The Spectacular Spider-Girl
by tehedward
Summary: Fates a funny thing, usually when something fated is supposed to happen it does and there isn't much you can do about it. But occasionally, sometimes something changes. The genetically altered spider was always going to escape, that was just a given fact of the universe, but it wasn't necessarily Peter Parker's fate to receive the bite. In this world, fate has chosen another.
1. Chapter 1

** Just toying with the idea of what if it wasn't Peter Parker who had been bit that fateful day, what if it was someone else. I don't know, I kind of like the thought of Mary Jane being more than just Spider-Man's girlfriend. Completely AU, and I'll say right now that I don't have a lot of knowledge about the Marvel Universe or Spider-Man, but hopefully this will still turn out to be a good story and that you all are able to enjoy it for what it is. Fair warning the final pairing will be F/F, if that's not your cup of tea, then don't read. Standard Disclaimer: I don't own Spider-Man or Marvel or any of its characters.**

**s**

**Chapter 1**

**s**

Today was not a good day to be Mary Jane Watson, in fact, as far as days went this one was looking to be right up there with the day of her last field trip terms of how bad this day was going. She ducks down low to avoid the bullets from one the goons shooting at her, having been forced from the ceiling to the floor by an earlier spray of fire, before jumping high into the air into a back flip onto the wall to avoid the blade of some green trench coat wearing freak calling himself the Scorpion.

Of course she dressed up in a costume and called herself Spider-Girl so she really wasn't in any position to judge anybody else about their choice of clothing or their super hero name, or in this guy's case, super villain name. But in her defense her powers actually were spider based, while this guy just ran around with a machete in a green trench coat, looking like some kind of wannabe Matrix reject as he tried to cut you into a million little pieces so... maybe she was in a position to judge.

M.J. lands on the wall and kicks off to avoid yet another spray of bullets, but she doesn't evade them all this time and one of the bullets grazes her thigh, but she powers through the pain and continues to dodge the hail of bullets. Jumping from wall to wall, off the chandelier and to the ceiling and back to the wall again. She had to do her best to keep the bullet fire pointed up and at her and away from the civilians.

There were currently five conscious heavily armed thugs, ten unconscious ones, one psychopath with a machete and about fifty innocent bystanders all caught up in the middle of this, with every reporter in the city all standing outside the building filming what they could, finally having some kind of proof that the "mysterious" Spider-Girl actually existed. Well more proof than the tied up ravings of some bad guys which isn't the most reliable of sources. Still this kind of exposure really kind of sucked because she had worked so hard to keep hidden and make sure that she remained more myth than reality.

Still she would worry about her exposure to the world after she figured out a way to get out of this alive. And speaking of getting out of this thing alive, her spider senses suddenly flared up worse than ever before, she is already jumping away from her spot on the wall before she sees the grenade being tossed. She had learned very early on to trust in her spider senses to help her avoid danger, but even they weren't enough to save her completely from the blast.

The force of the explosion knocks her off of her trajectory, she can feel the heat of the blast and the shrapnel pierce her costume and scatter across her back, she hits the ground with enough force to knock the wind out of her and she tumbles and rolls across the hard ballroom floor before finally landing face down in the middle of the room, while the terrified screams of some of the ballroom's guests fill the air.

She weakly lifts her head, the right side of her mask has been torn around her eye with the glass covering having shattered, exposing a bit of her red hair and a green eye to the world. She tries to lift her-self up and manages to make it to her hands and knees but her spider senses flair, and she is unable to dodge as a harsh kick to her ribs forces her over and back down to the ground and on her back.

She looks over as the Scorpion is walking slowly towards her, a cruel smirk playing on his lips as he readies his machete. Her body ached worse than anything she had ever experiences before, her ribs were probably cracked. Her back felt like it was on fire, her limbs felt heavy, the bullet wound in her leg was throbbing and she was exhausted. She had to face it, this is how her life was going to end, not exactly the most glorious of ends but really what did she expect when trying to play the hero. Still she had done some good in the world, she had saved people's lives and who knows, maybe after her death this guy would let everyone go. She had been the target after all.

Mary Jane closes her eyes and waits for the final blow to fall, her mind landing on the one person she didn't save. Her last thoughts are of him, hopefully she would get to see him again, apologize for not saving him, for not acting sooner. Let him know that she tried to do good with these gifts that she had been given. Hopefully she would get to apologize to him and maybe he could even forgive her.

They hadn't been close, but he had influenced her to continue to try and be a hero, to use her powers for good rather than selfish gain or even just hiding them away. But her time was up, she had jumped in over her head and while she had managed to tread water for a while in the end it just wasn't enough. Even knowing she was about to die and despite how scared she was to face the final moments of her life, she didn't regret what had happened to her to bring her to this point.

Her life was going nowhere, she had had big dreams but she knew how unrealistic they really were. What little girl didn't dream of growing up to be a world famous actress, and of those millions and millions of little girls, how many of them actually achieved their dreams? Besides because of her gifts she was able to get justice for Vivian… Vivian another plus side, without her gifts she never would have met Vivian and now she might get to see her again as well. And because of her gifts she had been able to help people, that was a good thing right? And ironically, she couldn't help but think she probably would be famous after this. The Spider-Girl urban legend confirmed. Of course she would be too dead to appreciate it and she would probably be remembered as more of a cautionary tale about what happens to people who try to be vigilantes, but hey famous was famous and so she decided to look on the bright side.

She wouldn't die whimpering for her life, she was scared, she didn't want to die, but she could die bravely. She could die so that the people in this room might live, and that… that wasn't too bad a way to go. She just had to think of it as the final scene of a movie or play that's all. Yeah, it was her final scene, the curtain was about to close and the story was over. The hero… or in this case heroin dies, but lives on in the hearts of those left behind… god she was such a drama queen, she can't help but laugh at her-self.

**s**

**Six Months Earlier**

**s**

Mary Jane Watson was bored. No strike that bored would be a definite improvement over her current condition. She places her hand over her boyfriend's, whose arm was resting around her shoulder and she leans in a little closer to him as their tour guide continues to drone on and on about something or another that they were working on here at Oscorp. She and her biology class all had the distinct… "privilege" of being taken on a guided tour Oscorp's science labs.

She looks up at her boyfriend Flash Thompson, a junior and the star quarterback of the football team. Last year he had led the school to a state championship and after the game he had asked her to go out with him, as at the time she had been on the cheer squad. Yes it had started out as the cliché quarterback/cheerleader must date high school trope but that was last year and things were different now and they were still together. She wasn't even a cheerleader anymore she had to drop out so that she could participate in the school play, so take that haters.

Flash had his issues of course, but she really did like him and he was always really sweet to her. When he feels her lean in closer to him he leans down and they share a quick kiss, but he doesn't pull or push her away from him, happy to keep her close as they continue their tour through the maze of boredom that was Oscorp.

In fact the only good thing about this whole field trip was that she and Flash got to basically spend the entire time holding hands. As the class continues to follow after the tour guide a quick and bright flash of light catches her attention. Mary Jane looks over and sees Peter Parker snapping pictures of everything with his old camera.

She can't help the smile that crosses her face at her neighbor's enthusiasm. They had spent the last eight years living right across from each other, but they had never been really close. She had been into dance and sports and other things like that while he had been a… well he was a bit of a science nerd. He collected bugs, messed with computers, and while she went to summer camp he went to science camp.

She liked him well enough, he was a nice guy, but their interests were always so different that they were never more than a couple of _"hi, how ya doing?"_ neighbors. Still she waves to him when he looks up at her from his camera and smiles that sweet, but goofy, smile of his.

"Great, encourage your stalker." She hears Flash grumble quietly.

"Quiet you." She says teasingly, "He's not a stalker, he's my neighbor and you should stop picking on him."

"Well maybe if he'd stop staring at you all mooneyed I would." Flash says back.

"He does not stare at me all "mooney" eyed." She says rolling her eyes.

"Yes he does, whenever you're not looking he's there staring at you, watching you. He likes you."

"So he has a little crush, it doesn't mean anything, I'm with you aren't I?"

"Yeah…" Flash mumbles.

"That's right, I am, and I like being with you. You don't need to be jealous. And you don't need to pick on him, you're better than that."

Flash gently holds her hands in his own. "You make me better."

She steps up onto her toes while he leans down and they start to kiss. It doesn't last long however as their teacher breaks them apart.

"This is one of the greatest centers of science in the world. The knowledge and technology that is being uncovered here will change all of mankind and you two," Here their teacher, a Mr. Richardson, glares at them, "can't be bothered to put your lives on hold for even a minute to marvel at the wonders around you."

Mary Jane and Flash share a sheepish look. "Sorry Mr. Richardson." They both say in unison, while the rest of the class laughs quietly. Although Mary Jane did notice that Peter was watching her a little dolefully. Okay so maybe Flash had a bit of a point about Peter's crush.

"Uh-huh, I'm sure." he responds. "Well perhaps if we split you two up for the remainder of this visit, you two might actually take a moment to pay attention, and you might even learn something. Mr. Thompson, you'll be up front with me."

Flash's shoulders sag in defeat. "And Miss Watson, why don't you partner up with Mr. Parker. Let's see if perhaps some of his enthusiasm will rub off on you."

"Yes Mr. Richardson." She responds. She and Flash share one last look before Mr. Richardson leads him to the front of the group while Mary Jane stays back and waits for Peter to make his way over.

"You know if you pay attention, you'll find that a lot of this stuff is really interesting. Some of the things they do here are going to change the world." Peter says softly as he steps up next to her.

Deciding to be nice and not let the separation from her boyfriend sour her mood Mary Jane responds kindly. "Maybe, it's just this guide is so boring, she just keeps droning on and on like not even she finds any of this stuff interesting and she works here, plus most of this stuff is kind of over my head."

"Well I could explain it to you." Peter offers helpfully, and M.J. can hear the hint of hope in his voice.

"Sure, I think that's what Mr. Richardson had in mind any way. Besides it'll probably be more interesting coming from a _friend_ rather than some tour guide." Mary Jane is careful to put a little more emphasis on the word friend, hoping to discourage any romantic notions he might have, but not wanting to hurt his feelings.

"Great!" Peter says excitedly, either missing or choosing to ignore her subtle hint that she wasn't interested in him that way.

Still as she followed him through the facility after their group she couldn't help but start to get engrossed in what he was saying. He had a real passion for this stuff and she could appreciate that. Plus he dumbed the science stuff down to her level for her. She wasn't stupid by any means, she maintained an A to high B average in all of her classes but this stuff was pretty advanced and science had always been her worst subject.

But Peter seemed to get it, and he went about explaining all of the different things that some of the experiments could lead to. Splicing DNA to help people regrow limbs, curing diseases, unlocking the human potential. Free energy, faster than light travel, all of these things were becoming closer and closer to being a reality rather than some science fiction dream. And a lot of it was going to be possible because of the experiments done here at Oscorp.

Mary Jane knew there were some strange things that were appearing and happening all over the world. People with strange abilities were being rumored to exist, the appearance of the Iron Man almost a year ago. Dr. Reed Richards and his families work in building a new space station, but it always seemed so strange and far away that it never really had an impact on her life, so it was treated with the attitude of 'wow that's cool, but what does it have to do with me?' Peter however had a way of explaining it and making it seem like it should matter to her and she found herself getting more and more interested… until.

"No, nuh-uh, no way, not happening, I am NOT going in there." Mary Jane says firmly, her voice holding no room for arguments.

Peter laughs, "What? Why not?" He asks his voice filled with amusement.

"Do you not see all of those… those things in there!?" She asks incredulously.

Peter looks over to the room behind him and sees that the next room is filled wall to wall with small, clear plastic containers each one carrying a different species of spider. "What… you mean the spiders, they're harmless."

"They are not harmless! They are icky and creepy and… and… ewe." Mary Jane shudders.

"Spiders are amazing creatures, some of them can jump up to like 50 times their own length, others are super strong and can lift massive weights in comparison to their size, and their speed and agility are amazing. And some of them have reflexes so good that some scientists even think that they have senses that border on the precognitive that help them to avoid danger. They're just so…"

"Creepy, crawly, disgusting, evil?" Mary Jane offers, unimpressed with Peter's enthusiasm for her most hated foe. Was she being a bit dramatic about the spiders… HELL NO! Her sister, who Mary Jane still wasn't convinced that she wasn't the spawn of Satan, had dropped a spider down her shirt when she was little. It bit her, it hurt, and she had been terrified of the little monsters ever since. And no amount of Peter's evil spider worship was going to convince her that the little beasts had anything to offer the world… other than nightmares, spiders offered nightmares, that's it… and pain.

"I was going to go with cool." Peter says, and Mary Jane narrows her eyes at him because she can see that he finds this funny.

"Come on let me show you, all of the spiders are going to be locked in their containers, you have nothing to worry about."

"I'm not going in there. That room, is a room of evil."

"C'mon, it'll be fun I promise."

"There is nothing you can say to me that will convince me to go in there."

"You do know that this field trip is worth ten percent of our grade and if you don't participate Mr. Richardson will fail you and… he's looking over this way right now." Peter warns her, sympathy finally finding its way into his voice for her predicament.

Okay so _almost_ nothing could convince her to go in there, a ten percent hit to her science grade would drop her to a C and she had worked too hard this semester to get anything less than a B in this class.

'_Stupid field trip, stupid spiders, and stupid Mr. Richardson.'_ She thinks viciously, unsure about which of the three she hated more right now as she steels her resolve and steps into her own personal little hell.

"Hey look, I'm sorry. I didn't realize that spiders made you this nervous, but I promise it'll be okay." Peter says kindly when he notices her lightly shaking.

She smiles tightly at him, "It's fine, lets… let's just get this part over with."

Unfortunately for Mary Jane this spider exhibit seemed to be the grand finale of their tour of Oscorp and so it looked like they would be spending quite a bit of time in here. She manages to catch Flash's eye from across the room and he smiles sympathetically at her, aware of the fact that spiders aren't her most favorite thing in the world.

'_Are you okay?'_ Flash mouths.

Mary Jane nods her head, all while screaming in her mind _'NO, she wasn't okay!'_

She mostly stays behind Peter as he wonders around the room and examines all of the different species of spider in the room and snaps photos of them. Finally they stop at the center of the room at a table with thirteen containers on them and inside are some of the strangest and most colorful spiders they had seen yet. They were a vibrant blue color with a red pattern around the thorax, and they were all leaping from one side of their container to the next. Actually Mary Jane probably would have been impressed by the athleticism of it all if she was so incredibly freaked out by the little monsters.

"Excuse me?" Peter calls out to one of the nearby scientists.

"Yes?" A middle aged man in a white lab coat answers.

"I'm not familiar with this kind of species of spider, what kind are they?" Peter asks curiously.

Mary Jane couldn't care less what kind of species of spider it was, why didn't Peter ask the important questions like, why did they have such ridiculously large fangs for such a small body!?

"Oh these, these are the pride and joy of the genetics division. They're Arachne Superior. Or the Os Spider. These are the only ones of their species in the entire world, you see we genetically altered and bred them, using the DNA from hundreds of other species to create these 13 super spiders. We had an entire egg sack full of them but these 13 are the only ones that have survived into adulthood." The scientist says with what Mary Jane would describe as a ridiculous amount of pride.

"They're amazing." Peter agrees as he watches one leap from floor of its container to the top and clings to the ceiling.

"Why would you do that!?" Mary Jane asks, alarmed. Who in their right mind looks at a spider and goes 'Hmm? How can I make these things worse?' Seriously, super genetically altered spiders, you may as well hand over the planet to them now. In Mary Jane's opinion burning down all of Manhattan was a perfectly reasonable response to learning these things existed.

The scientist chuckles at her alarm. "I can see that you aren't a big fan of these amazing creatures, but let me see if I can help put your mind at ease. The testing we are doing here with these creatures is in its very most infant stages right now, we're working on spiders due to their variety of species. But we're hoping to be able to use this technology on people one day."

Mary Jane's eyes widen in alarm. "Why, what purpose would putting spider DNA into humans serve?"

The scientist outright laughs at this point, but it's not cruelly, more out of amusement. "No, we're not trying to mix spider and human DNA, we're practicing with adjusting the DNA of spiders so that we can one day adjust the DNA of humans. Imagine it, you find out that your pregnant and that due to something in its genetic makeup the child will be born blind, or maybe with an illness. This technology once perfected will allow us to literally alter the child's DNA, remove its diseases and imperfections. In fact were actually started moving on from spiders to lizards and early testing of this technology on the various lizard species show that it has caused them to be able to rapidly regenerate lost limbs, now imagine being able to apply that to a wounded soldier who has just lost a limb." Mary Jane's eyes dart to the man's side and she can see that he is missing an arm. He smiles kindly at her when he notices where hers and Peter's eyes have landed. Unoffended by their staring.

"That is what this technology is being used for young lady. To find the cures for the injuries and ailments of mankind, it's just not ready to be tested on humans yet, in fact I would say we're a good decade away from it, but these trials now with these more complex species, like these spiders, show real promise for the future and what may one day be our ability to eliminate the frailties of the human condition."

Even Mary Jane had to admit that that sounded pretty good, even if it did deal with spiders. She looks back down at the Os Spiders and a small smile cracks her face.

"You see young lady, these creatures are amazing, and they hold within them the future of all mankind. It's okay to be a little nervous around them, a healthy respect for their power is good, but you don't need to fear them."

"I guess." Mary Jane concedes as she continues to look at the spiders. "Um, question though, you said there were 13 of them but I only count 12. Did one escape?" She asks him as she looks around nervously. Just being surrounded by all these different species of spiders is making her skin crawl.

The scientist studies the containers for a second. "Huh," He mutters confused before turning to look at her. "It's probably just been moved for some more testing. We're very careful here and there is no way that one could ever escape, so there is nothing to worry about." He reassures her.

"Thanks for answering our questions Mr…?" Peter thanks the man.

"Connors, Dr. Curt Connors." He introduces himself, he holds his arm out to shake Peter's and then does the same for her.

"Yes, thank you Dr. Connors, I don't know that I'll ever like them but you've definitely given me something to think about."

"It was my pleasure, it's always a joy to help educate those who are searching for knowledge. Please, if you have any more questions, don't hesitate to ask." And with that Dr. Connors goes back to what he was working on before he started talking with them.

"See M.J. spiders aren't that bad." Peter tells her and Mary Jane could see the mooney eyed look on his face that Flash had been talking about.

"M.J.?" She questions, it wasn't that she hadn't heard that nickname before, it was actually the most common one she heard, just barely beating out Red. Actually of the two she preferred Red, it seemed more Hollywood to her than M.J. but she didn't hate it when people she was close to called her M.J. it was just a little more personal than she would like from him right now, and her nerves and patience was already pretty thin after spending so much time in this spider room. After today she wouldn't mind trying to be Peter's friend, but while they had known each other for years they weren't close enough for nicknames. "Listen, Peter-" She tries to say gently, deciding that it would probably be for the best to just come out and say that she wasn't interested in him romantically but that she would like to be friends, but Peter heads her off.

"Hey, how about we get a picture of you in front of the Os Spiders, you know for the school paper?" He asks hopefully while holding up his camera.

Mary Jane bites her lower lip, "I don't know… look Peter-"

"C'mon, please, to commemorate your first steps towards getting over your arachnophobia."

"I'm not… I still think they're creep, evil, little things." She tells him, completely serious.

"Yes, but now you understand them a little better and now you know they're not useless. That they might even be the key to helping people in the future. You understand them a little better now and understanding is the first step towards conquering your fears."

Mary Jane lets out a sigh, "Alright, fine, where do you want me?"

Peter's smile is huge, "Right there in front of the cages, um… why don't you stand there like you're really fascinated and curious about everything." Peter suggests trying to figure out the best shot to go for, and if he got to spend the entire time watching Mary Jane, well that was just a perk of being the photographer.

**s**

**5 Hours Earlier**

**s**

Earlier in the day Os Spider, designation Os-13 had been taken to the level 23. Level 23 was where some of the more… questionable experiments at Oscorp took place and was also where most of the big breakthroughs of the company happened.

Cory Earls was a brand new graduate from MIT who had been offered a position straight out of college here at Oscorp. He had graduated at the top of his class and in his mind he was well on his way to being the new big name in computer technology. Or at least he was supposed to be, this once in a life time position he had been offered at Oscorp had actually turned out to be an unpaid internship where he was basically a glorified coffee boy.

His pride was begging him, screaming at him to quit. To leave this demeaning job and go somewhere else, but the more pragmatic side of him knew that that would be the stupid thing to do. You didn't just walk away from an internship at Oscorp. It was one of the hardest most prestigious places in the world to try and get a job at and if he were to leave it would pretty much be a black mark on his record for any other company he tried to get a job at.

So unless he wanted to spend the rest of his life teaching at some crappy high school or working as tech support for some computer supply company he would just have to suck it up and do the demeaning tasks asked of him. Like his current one, carrying one of those creepy super spiders to the radiation chamber.

Today it was this particular spider's turn to go in for the treatment. They had discovered that gamma radiation helped to stabilize the spider's genetic code and stopped them from deteriorating. The spiders needed the gamma treatment at least once a week to survive. The current equipment was based off of the previous work of a Dr. Bruce Banter or Banner or something like that, Oscorp had gotten its hands on the technology as part of a deal with the U.S. government.

However, as much as these treatments were keeping the spiders alive they were also making the little blighters more aggressive. When they had first started doing the gamma treatments on the spider they had been a fairly docile creature, but now the things were a bunch of little maniacs. They got more and more vicious, attacking anything that moved and that they could sink their fangs into.

And the creepy little things were smart too, constantly looking for ways to escape, so during transfers he had to keep an extra close eye on the things. Honestly if he could squish them all he probably would. He knew they was smart, and while he didn't think they were human smart, there was a definite vicious cunningness to them. But each of these little bugs was worth more money than he would probably make in his entire life and so he continues to carry it down to the lab like he has previously, day after day after day.

As he rounds the corner Cory Earls finds himself slamming into the solid form of another person and getting knocked to the ground and container goes flying from his hands. "Watch where you're going you… you…" Cory gulps as he looks up at the person he had just bumped into, Norman Osborn, the founder and CEO of Oscorp and by the scowl on his face he didn't look too happy. Cory was so wrapped up in the fact that he just rammed into and pissed off Norman Osborn that he failed to notice that the container he had been carrying had busted open when he had fallen and that the spider was escaping.

**s**

**5 Hours Later**

**s**

Mary Jane gave her biggest and best star smile as the camera flashed and Peter began to take her picture. The first few shots hadn't felt right, and Mary Jane agreed they could probably do better so she was trying out different poses, going with what felt natural. After all if she was going to be an actress she would have to get used to working with photographers and this was a good way to get some practice in.

She was so focused on posing for the camera that she failed to notice the blue and red spider dangling from a web and slowly descending down on her. As Mary Jane raises her hand to push a lock of hair behind her ear the spider makes contact landing on that hand. What happens next happens all in the matter of seconds.

All eyes in the room turn to Mary Jane as she lets out a scream when she realizes that the creature on her hand is one of the super spiders. She begins to shake her hand as hard as she can to try and fling it off of her. The spider using all of its enhanced strength clings to her and because it feels threatened it bites down. If Mary Jane had something to compare the pain of the bite to she would say it felt like getting shot, she stumbles backwards as her cry of fear turns into one of agony.

Mary Jane bumps into the table and knocks it and the twelve other spiders and their containers over and onto the floor with her falling down on them. The lids of the containers are either smashed or knocked loose and the rest of the spiders begin to flee their captivity. However all twelve of them connect on some kind of almost psychic, instinctual level, with their thirteenth companion who has identified the tall being in their presence as a threat. Normally the spiders would have fled away from the danger, but because they had been continually been exposed to low doses of gamma radiation it had caused them to have a shift in their natures and so instead of fleeing from the threat they attacked. All thirteen of them leap onto the fifteen year old red headed girl and they begin to bite her, over and over again. Their irradiated and genetically altered venom pumping into her system.

Mary Jane is in incredible pain right now. Every bite brings about an awful burning, stinging sensation, her chest is aching as her heart tries to pump itself right out of her chest, her veins feel as if a liquid fire is running through them, and she can barely breathe.

She thrashes about trying to knock the spiders off of her until her muscles begin to seize, paralyzing her and leaving all off her muscles feeling like she is experiencing one massive Charlie horse that is running through her entire body. She vaguely hears the sound of people screaming, of stomping feet and angry yelling. And as her vision blurs and just before her eyes close the last thing Mary Jane sees is the scared face of Dr. Connors kneeling over her.


	2. Chapter 2

**So here is Chapter 2 of The Spectacular Spider-Girl. For those of you who are reading, I hope you enjoy it. Obvious disclaimer, I don't own Spider-Man, Marvel, or any of its Characters.**

**s**

**Chapter 2**

**s**

Mary Jane felt exhausted as she came back to the world of the living. Her head was foggy and she felt stiff, like she had just finished a particularly intense workout. As her eyes flutter open she realizes she's in a hospital. Looking over she sees Flash sitting next to her, his head resting in his hands.

"Hey Flash." She croaks out, her mouth really dry.

"Mary Jane!" He gasps, "Oh thank God!" He jumps up and gently grasps one of her hands in his own. "How are you feeling?"

"A little stiff and probably psychologically scarred for life but okay." She jokes. "What happened?"

"I was so scared, they wouldn't stop biting you. I started to stomp on them you know, get them away from you and to stop attacking you. Then a couple of the scientists there came and started screaming at me to stop and that those spiders were worth millions of dollars." Flash scowls as he remembers how angry he was at them.

"What happened next?"

"Well I told them they shouldn't worry so much about the millions the spiders' were worth and worry about the billions of dollars they were going to lose after you and your parents dropped a law suit on them. Well that shut them up pretty quickly." Flash chuckles, and so does Mary Jane.

"Anyway, while this was going on Parker and that Connors guy got the rest of the spiders away from you. Your skin it was this bright red color and you kept thrashing about and then suddenly you stopped. Connors checked you and… and he said you didn't have a pulse. He started CPR while somebody else called an ambulance. You… you died though…" Flash chokes up a bit at this.

"Hey, I'm right here aren't I? I'm right here and I'm fine… I am fine right?" She asks suddenly very nervous.

"Yeah… yeah you're fine." He says wiping his eyes.

"No hideous scars or disfigurements?" She asks halfway joking and halfway serious.

"No."

"No creepy extra limbs or extra eye balls?" She jokes and it gets a real smile out of him and even a little laugh. "Don't laugh, those were genetically altered super spiders, who knows what could have happened." She teases.

"No, no new body parts, just a couple of bandages and you're still as beautiful as always." After he says this he kisses her forehead.

"Okay so no freaky mutations, that's good. So I just died… temporarily, what happened next?"

"I… I… didn't know what to do, so I just kind of held you. Then Connors got up and ran to another room and then he came back with a giant needle and some kind vial of something."

"How big was the needle?" Not sure if she wants the answer to that question.

"Let's just say it's probably a good thing you weren't awake to see it." He shakes his head. "Anyway, he pushes me away and then he started to cut open your shirt, at first I thought he was just some kind of pedo-necro-freak just trying to cop a feel, so I tried to stop him, but he shoved me out of the way and he shouted that he was trying to save you. By the way, dude was strong for a one armed science geek," Mary Jane rolls her eyes but otherwise doesn't comment. "Any way, he then had Parker help him fill the syringe with the liquid that was in the vial and then he…"

"Then he what?"

"I'm not sure if I should tell you, I mean isn't it enough that you're here and that you're fine?"

"Oh come on Flash, you can't leave me hanging like this." She begs him, kind of engrossed in the story now. This day would make a fantastic scene in the autobiographical movie of her life when she was older and a well-established, world famous, actress.

"Well he… he took the needle and stabbed it directly into your heart."

Mary Jane's eyes widen and then she looks down her hospital gown down at her chest and sure enough there's a little bandage right over where her heart would be. "Wow…"

"Yeah, I know."

"I mean I've seen that kind of thing on a medical dramas before but…"

"Yeah, so have I and let me tell you now, not nearly as cool to see in real life as it is on TV. Anyway, after he did that you sat up super-fast, your eyes were wide and blood shot and you were gasping for breath, and you kept looking around wildly. I was… I… you were alive and I was so relieved, I called out to you and then you kind of looked at me for a moment, like you were a million miles away and then you fainted. I started to freak out again but Connors assured me that you were just unconscious and then the paramedics arrived and I rode with you to the hospital and well… here we are."

"So how long have I been here?" She asks.

"Just a couple of hours, the doctors didn't think you would actually wake up for a couple of days. Anyway, they took some blood to run some tests on it, but that's it. You pretty much stabilized on the way here to the hospital."

"And…" She doesn't want to ask because no matter the answer it's just going to hurt. "Where are my parents?" She asks softly.

Flash scowls. "They've called your home a couple of times but no answer. It's partially why I've been able to wait with you even though I'm not family."

Mary Jane shrugs her shoulders like it doesn't bother her that her parents aren't answering, in all honesty she should be used to it with an abusive ass hole like her father and a drunk like her mother. Still they are her parents and it does hurt. "You're here, that's enough." She tells him and she squeezes his hand affectionately.

"Hey you know, if you play your cards right you could probably get Mr. Richardson to give you an A for the rest of the semester, he was the one who insisted on this field trip in the first place." Flash suggests, hoping to cheer his girlfriend up.

Mary Jane giggles.

**s**

**xXx-Scene Break-xXx**

**s**

"Are you sure you won't stay the night, it might be a good idea." Flash suggests as he assists Mary Jane up from her wheel chair as she exits the hospital.

"I'm perfectly fine and I'm not going to stay here over night. I just want to go home and I really don't see the need for this wheelchair either." She says scowling at the nurse who was walking them out.

"Sorry kid, hospital policy. But for what it's worth, your blood tests came back normal. Other than a few bite marks that'll heal up in a couple days you should be perfectly fine, like it never happened." The nurse says. "That being said if you feel off or anything you get back here immediately."

"I'm fine I won't-"

"If something comes up she'll be right back." Flash interrupts her.

The nurse chuckles and wishes them well as Flash takes her arm and leads her to his car.

"I'm not an invalid you know?" she reminds him, getting a little annoyed with being treated like she is made of glass.

Flash groans in frustration. After waking up Mary Jane had put up with him and the doctors worrying about her for all of five minutes before she became this impenetrable wall of "I'm fine."

"I watched you get swarmed by mutant spiders and then die before seeing a one armed mad scientist stab you in the heart to bring you back to life. I get it, you say you're okay and I believe you but it was still really scary to see so would you please just let me take care of you, at least for a while? Please?"

Mary Jane doesn't say anything but she does lean a little closer into Flash. She could see where he was coming from, if their situations had been reversed she would have been a nervous wreck around him, constantly worrying about whether or not he was okay. So if it would help put him at ease she could let him play the doting protective boyfriend for a while, it's not like she would be getting that kind of care at home in any way.

"Alright, you win." She says with a long suffering sigh.

"Oh don't look so put out." Flash teases. "I've basically volunteered to be your faithful manservant until you feel better. So enjoy."

The two of them share a brief kiss before Flash escorts her to his car. "So where to?" Flash asks.

"Actually I am kind of tired, do you think you could drop me off at home. I'm kind of exhausted and I'd like to go to sleep." She had been feeling fine but all of a sudden she had gotten extremely tired.

"Sure thing." Mary Jane hears him say before she drifts off to sleep.

When she woke up it was to Flash gently shaking her awake. He offered to carry her inside but she just waved him off, telling him that she would see him tomorrow. As she goes inside she is extremely grateful to see her father passed out on the couch with her mother nowhere to be seen.

She is so tired right now and all she wants to do is sleep. As she stumbles upstairs she is struck by a sudden bout of nausea and ends up throwing up all over the floor. She shakily leans against the wall as she empty's the content of her stomach and then suddenly her chest is struck with a piercing pain.

'_Oh god, I should have stayed in the hospital!" _She thinks as she clutches her chest. She manages to stumble into her room before collapsing to the floor. She tries to call out for help but her voice is caught in her throat and all that comes out is a mangled whimper. She reaches for her cell phone, to call 911 or Flash or someone, anyone, but when she feels her pocket she finds that it's empty. Her phone must have fallen out in Flash's car.

She crawls forward to her bed and manages to crawl onto it, before throwing up one last time. As she lays there in her own vomit, she gives off one last whimper before she falls unconscious.

As Mary Jane Watson lay there, she and the rest of the world were unaware of the final changes going through her body as the gamma irradiated venom of the spiders altered her DNA. Mary Jane had always been fit, but now every last trace of fat disappeared. Her flat and smooth stomach now gaining a toned six pack, her arms and thighs and calf muscles all gaining more definition. Her pretty and fiery red hair, now gaining an almost otherworldly sheen to it. The already beautiful young girl was slowly transforming into a goddess. Her body losing any imperfections that it had once had, tightening and toning itself to perfection. She was slowly becoming super human, a perfect predator. And those were just the visible changes. The spider venom altering her in other, less obvious ways. And within a few short hours, Mary Jane's transformation was complete.

**s**

**xXx-Scene Break-xXx**

**s**

She was in danger.

That was the first thought that entered Mary Jane's mind as she regained consciousness. That immediate sense of danger is what caused her eyes to snap open and as she does it's just in time to see her father reach out and grab her by her hair, yanking her up and slamming her into a wall.

"You little bitch, look at the mess you've made!" His red face is screaming at her, the smell of alcohol on his breath is smothering, making it hard to breathe. However if she hadn't been so shocked by the way she had been woken up and if she had been focusing and her mind clear she would have realized that despite the physicality of it all, her father's actions didn't actually hurt her. Not the hair pull, or the way he slammed her into the wall, or even the way he was gripping her arm as he held her in place.

"What… Daddy, I…" She looks around the room confused, her father filling her field of vision, but she is also able to see her mother standing in the doorway looking on blankly. "What's going on?" She asks, voice quivering.

She had seen her father this angry before, and unless she wanted another beating she was going to have to figure out a way to calm him down.

"What's going on is you threw up all over my hallway, all over _my _house! You make this disgusting mess and then just leave it there like some kind of animal!" He screams, "I stepped in it, I fucking stepped in it you little bitch! Do you have any idea how disgusting that is!?"

"I- I'm sorry daddy… I… didn't… I got-" However she is interrupted by what happens next. He raises his hand high and swings it toward her face as fast and as hard as he can, but instead of the usual blur, followed by the painful sting and throb of when this usually happens, something else occurred.

He was moving so slow, like he wasn't really, but he was all the same. She knew it was happening at full speed but it was like watching it in slow motion. And in her head… there was a ringing in her head, some kind of voice screaming at her to move. But how, how could she move, how could she avoid this? And just as suddenly it came to her, a flash in her head, some kind of natural instinct talking to her, showing her what to do. She wasn't sure how, but suddenly she knew. She just knew, what to do and how to move to avoid the slap.

And so she does, she ducks down to her knees, faster than she had ever moved before and before she could even blink, she continues to follow her instincts and punches up with all of her might. She watches in horror and amazement as her fist connects with her father's jaw, before he could even finish the follow through of his own attack and he goes sailing through the air. She could hear the bone crack and break under the power of her swing. There is a loud thud as he hits the wall with a crash, before he slides to the floor in a heap.

And as soon as it's over it's as if she's back in the real world, everything moving at normal speed, with her father now unconscious across the room, her mother by his side, holding him and screaming. Mary Jane stares at her hands in awe, not quite believing what had just happened. Had she just done that, no, this couldn't be real, there was no way that she could have just done what she had. But the evidence was there, she had seen it happen, she had done it.

She looks to her parents, her father not moving, her mother sobbing and screaming and suddenly Mary Jane feels sick, she had hurt her father, she had hit him. Never mind that he had been about to hurt her, she had hit her daddy and it all came crashing down on her.

"Daddy!" She gasps taking a step forward to move to his side, but her mother swings at her and holds him protectively.

"Get away from him you freak! Get out of our house, get out, get out!" Her mother turns her attention back to her father. "What did she do to you!? What has she done!? Oh my poor, poor, Philip!" She wails. She turns and glares at her daughter, her eyes bloodshot with alcohol and grief, "GET OUT!" She screams one final time and so Mary Jane, never so scared in her life, spider incident excluded, takes off and into the night.

**s**

**xXx-Scene Break-xXx**

**s**

Mary Jane was in tears as she walked through the city at night. She had hurt her daddy, no, she had defended herself. She had done nothing wrong, he was about to hurt her and so she had defended herself… and for that her mother had kicked her out. She was shivering and hugging herself, she felt cold, but she knew it was more out of shock than the weather, which was fairly warm right now. What happened back there and how had she done it?

The last thing she remembered was feeling sick and in pain and crawling to her room. She had lost her phone and she wasn't able to call for help and she had thought she had been dying, and then she lost consciousness. And then she had been awoken by her father, and knowing she had been in danger… she reacted.

But she had been in danger before, her father was not a kind man… so why had this time been different? She had never hit anyone before, let alone punch her father across a room, so why now? She shakes her head and tries to calm herself down. She needed to get to Flash, she needed her boyfriend. She could freak out about things later, right now she needed to get off the streets.

The Thompson's lived in a nice neighborhood and were a good family who had always been very kind to her. She knew they would help her and take her in, unfortunately for her, she lived in a rather rough part of the city, and it wasn't safe for anyone, let alone a teenage girl to be walking alone at night.

And just as the thought crosses her mind her worst fears are confirmed and she sees two rough looking guys jump off a stoop she had just walked past and begin to walk behind her. She could feel their eyes crawling over her, violating her as they checked her out. Cat-calling her as they do so. She picks up her speed and all but runs to get away from them and she hears them laugh as she does so.

"C'mon baby, we'll be nice!"

"Yeah, you look like you could use a friend!"

She doesn't care anymore, she's really afraid now and so she takes off in a dead sprint.

"Hey where do you think you're going?"

"Get her!"

She can hear them give chase, she turns a corner and then hoping to lose them ducks into an alley. However as she does so she bumps into a trash can, it and its contents falling to the ground in a loud clatter.

She hears one of them call out that she's down the alley and she begins to cry harder, she runs down the alley way and turns a corner and to her horror finds that it's a dead end. She's trapped and she knew what was going to happen next. This wasn't fair, this wasn't right! She begins to pound on the wall and begins to scream for help, her heart beating furiously in her chest as the icy adrenaline of fear pumps through her body. She continues to scream and cry, she doesn't want this, she wants someone to come and save her, to make it okay, but she knows it's useless. In this city, in this area, there are no heroes.

She sees their large shadows as they slowly stalk down the alley way, getting closer and closer to her. She can hear them laughing about the fun they're about to have and so Mary Jane closes her eyes, and begs to God or whoever is listening, that someone, anyone will come and save her.

And then it happens again. A voice in the back of her mind, almost like a long forgotten instinct from time immemorial, it comes to her and it whispers to her softly, gently, one word. One simple word that seems absurd, but she listens to it anyway, and does as it instructs her.

Jump.

Mary Jane leaps with all of her might and is stunned to find that rather than the couple of inches off the ground she was expecting, she finds herself flying high into the air. She instinctually tucks herself into a flip and then reaches for the wall and in what is becoming a rather common occurrence, Mary Jane finds herself surprised once more that she is sticking to said wall.

Her heart is racing, she had just jumped what must have been easily thirty feet into the air and now she was now hanging from a wall. Not dangling from a ledge, no, she was legitimately sticking to a wall. She might have shrieked in fright if the raucous laughter of her pursuers hadn't caught her attention, and so she clamps her mouth shut and watches from the shadows above as they enter the area, not paying attention to the fact that she shouldn't be able to see everything as clearly as she does here in the dark.

"Hey where did she go?" One of them asks.

"I don't know, I could have sworn she had come down this way."

"Damn it, that was one fine piece of ass-"

Mary Jane has a hard time controlling her anger as she listens in on them talking about all of the things they would have liked to have done to her. As they start to leave, Mary Jane climbs the last few feet of the wall and up and over the railing and onto the roof. Once there she sits against the railing and brings her knees up to her chest and begins to cry once more. The events of the day finally catching up to her, from the spider attack, to what happened to her father, to just now where those two men were going to rape her, it was all too much to handle right then and so she cried. Harder than she ever had before, and she doesn't stop crying until finally exhaustion claims her and she falls asleep right there on the roof.


	3. Chapter 3

** Standard disclaimer, I don't own Spider-Man or any of its characters.**

**s**

**Chapter 3**

**s**

The bright light of the sun is what awakens Mary Jane, her back is stiff and it's a little chilly but otherwise not too bad. As her eyes flutter open, she is momentarily confused, why is she up on a roof top and not at home in bed? She shakes her head to clear the cobwebs and then stretches, trying to work out the kinks in her neck, and as she does the memories of last night come rushing back to her.

She shakily gets to her feet and looks out at the city that is just starting its day. She should be getting ready for school right now but she discards that idea almost immediately. Something was going on with her and she needed to figure out what. Once she had some answers then she could work out what to do next.

She leans against the railing on the roof and looks at her hands, they don't seem to be any different and yet last night they had clung to a wall. She lifts her arm to examine her bicep and is surprised to see how toned it is. It wasn't all body builder, but there was definitely muscle there that hadn't been before. She lifts her shirt and looks at her belly and is also surprised to see the six pack.

"Holy cow… I'm a freaking amazon." She gasps.

So apparently she was now buff, not necessarily something to complain about, but definitely not the smooth look she had gone for and that a model or actress was expected to have. Still, she could definitely work with this. What else had happened last night… well she jumped super high and she had stuck to the wall, she had dodged her father's slap… and then punched him across the room, but how? How did this all happen?

She turns and looks out over the city and contemplates what she should do, the first step is to obviously to get down from the roof but then what? Did she go to the hospital, should she go to the hospital? Argh, this was all so confusing… she wasn't thinking clearly right now and she needed help. Flash, Flash could help her, she could meet up with him and explain all of this freaky stuff that was happening to her and then he could help her work through what was going on or take her to the hospital if she needed.

She goes over to a little shed on top of the roof that obviously led down and into the building. As she grabs the handle to the door, she's not paying attention and she crushes it with her bare hand. She immediately lets go startled.

"Holy shit!" Okay there was something seriously wrong with her, because while she had always been fit and even now that she was ripped like she was she still shouldn't have been able to crush metal like that. She hesitantly reaches over and grabs the broken door knob and pulls and once again her strength overwhelms her and she rips the door from its hinges, she shrieks and accidentally flings the door, which goes sailing through the air across the roof and smashes into an adjacent building.

Suddenly an alarm begins to ring as well and Mary Jane jumps, startled, however it wasn't just a little jump of fright, it was a full on back flip across the roof where she lands perfectly balanced, crouching on the railing.

"No… way…" She looks around hesitantly, wondering if anyone had seen her. As the alarm continues to blare she realizes that she really needs to get out of there now so she stands up and looks around and sees that the building across from her has a fire escape that leads back down to the street.

She had already done some pretty amazing physical feats… could she do that? Could she make it across the gap separating her and the other building? But even as she is contemplating it, her mind is instantly filled with that little voice she has been hearing, it doesn't speak, not really and not with words, but more with images. Like she can see herself doing what it's asking, like somehow she instinctually knows what to do. And so, not giving it a second thought she leaps and without any real effort on her part she lands on the other roof.

A big smile forms on her face, "This is so cool."

She quickly takes the fire escape down into the alley and before she knows it she's back on the already crowding street. She moves quickly, running at jog, and she is both pleased and surprised to find that she's also faster than she had been before. She finds a public restroom and deciding to brave it, enters. She checks around to make sure no one is around before locking the door and then she stands in front of the mirror.

And looking back at her isn't the reflection that she is used to seeing. It's her, but it's not, it's like a better version of her. She's changed, it's subtle but noticeable. She had always been pretty, she already knew that, but this went beyond that, her hair had always been a fiery red, but now there was a deep and lustrous sheen to it. Her skin had also lost all blemishes as well, no pimples, no zits, nothing. And her eyes, there was a vibrancy to them now, the coloring was deep and pure. If she were looking at them in a picture she would think they were photo shopped or that she was wearing contacts or something.

She looks over and double checks that she had locked the door before removing her shirt and is surprised to see her body looking the way it does. Yes, she had noticed the new tone and definition she had seemingly taken but seeing it now and in full force was something else entirely. She looked amazing! She's grinning from ear to ear as she examines her body, she was pretty before, she was fit before, but this was on a different level. She had gone from the cute girl next door to one of those fitness models that were in those workout DVD's or better yet like some kind of super heroine in one of those silly summer blockbusters.

She is brought out of her musings when she hears a loud knocking on the door, someone yelling to be let in. She quickly throws her shirt back on and pushes past the person. She needed to get out of there anyway and really see what she could do, super looks, super powers? Yesterday may have been the worst day of her life but today, today seemed to be looking up.

**s**

**xXx-Scene Break-xXx**

**s**

Mary Jane quickly made her way to an abandoned steel works factory that she knew was nearby. It had lots of high places and beams and was fairly isolated, the perfect place to test out everything she could do, and test it she did. She started simple, jumping up and down and seeing as high as she could go. Eventually deciding that she evened out at about thirty feet. From there things got more intricate.

She started running around and jumping into the high beams and rafters of the old factory. She found that she needed very little practice, that she knew instinctively how to do whatever it was she wanted to do. The little voice in her head a perfect guide. She could leap and flip and contort her body in a way that would make even the most renowned Olympic gymnast green with envy.

She could stick to walls, which was both very cool, a little weird, and very handy, having over shot one of her leaps by accident and slamming against the wall. But she just held on tightly and rather than fall to the ground she stayed exactly where she was, before pushing off flipping through the air and landing perfectly on the ground. Dance lessons and cheerleading be damned, she had never had this kind of balance before either.

She looks around the dusty old factory and grins, walking over to a rather large steel beam on the ground she picks it up with no problem, finding that it may as well have been made of Styrofoam for how heavy it felt to her. She drops it with a loud clang and looks around some more for something heavier to try. Finally she sees outside, abandoned, and missing its wheels an old VW Beatle. She was strong now, but was she…?

She jogs over to the rusted over car and studies it for a second before deciding to just go for it. She finds that she can easily roll it over and her smile grows. She bites her lip and wonders is she should really try this next thing, before thinking why not. She grips the bug and with a heave and being careful to lift with her legs she manages to raise the car over her head.

She begins to laugh excitedly. This was amazing, this was incredible, where the hell had all of this come from? She sets the car down and as she does so she notices a little spider crawling away from her and Mary Jane didn't think she had ever felt dumber in her entire life. Her face tinged pink as it comes to her.

She had been bitten by genetically altered super spiders and she wonders where the hell her knew found abilities had come from. "Really M.J.?" She shakes her head and is glad that no one is around to see her dumb moment. Still that did beg the question, what now? She had all these freaky powers, cool, but still freaky, and they were probably given to her by those spiders so….

Should she go to OsCorp and tell them what happened? Doctor Connors had been really nice and he had saved her life but… it was a science lab and she had no desire to become some freaky lab rat… or lab spider in her case. Should she go to the hospital instead, but what could they do for her? I mean they hadn't even caught this change when she had been in there care, what could they do for her other than send her to OsCorp? But she had to tell someone, didn't she?

I mean, what if this was temporary? What if this was permanent? She had been genetically altered in some way, and while she wasn't exactly the greatest scientific mind in the world, she certainly knew that that was something that needed to watched and maybe even treated. I mean, what if this was just the beginning and she was turning into some kind of giant spider girl monster thing?

Mary Jane shudders at that thought. No, she needed to talk to someone she could trust. This was all too close to her and she needed a second opinion. She needed to go find Flash, he may not be a science geek, but he was her boyfriend and he did care about her and he might have some good advice or be able to help her work out what she wanted to do.

**s**

**xXx-Scene Break-xXx**

**s**

Mary Jane was running as fast as her legs could carry her, tears streaming down her face, her heart breaking.

How could he? How could he do this to her? She thought he had cared about her, had thought they had been in love and yet it wasn't even a day that she had been gone and she had already seen him kissing that bitch Liz Allen.

She hated him, and her, she hated them both! She knew Liz was after Flash, she knew that they had dated briefly, but Flash had promised her that it was over, that what they had was over. How could she be so stupid!?

She had gone to the school, knowing it was lunch and that Flash would be at the cafeteria. So she quickly walked in, waving hello and saying hi to the people who had come up to her, but quickly and politely begging them off. Desperate to find Flash, and tell him what was happening to her, get his thoughts on the matter. She was walking down the hall that lead directly to the cafeteria, when she had seen them.

They were by Flash's locker and then out of nowhere, like a punch to the gut, Mary Jane saw Liz lean in and capture Flash's lips with her own. It had been too much, she had loved him, and she had thought that he loved her too but she was wrong, and so she turned and ran, ran as fast as she could go.

If she had stayed to watch it play out, then she would have seen Flash push Liz away, an angry glare on his face. She would have heard him chew the other girl out for kissing him, explaining that he already had a girlfriend that he was in love with and that there was no chance at the two of them ever getting back together.

However she didn't stay, and the last image of Flash in her mind, would be of him kissing another woman, and she wouldn't learn the truth of the matter for a long time.

**s**

**xXx-Scene Break-xXx**

**s**

Mary Jane spent the rest of the day wandering around the city aimlessly. It wasn't until the sun had begun to set that she realized that she had no idea about what to do next or where to go. She couldn't go to Flash, him kissing Liz Allen had made that abundantly clear. She had no friends at school that she felt close enough to, to go and ask for help. And she certainly couldn't go home.

She was on her own. She decided against going to the hospital or OsCorp. If something went wrong, like she started growing extra limbs or something, then she might consider it but she was nobody's lab rat and quite honestly these new powers were the only good thing to come out of these past two days. She had lost her boyfriend, her home, and all sense of stability. She wasn't about to lose these gifts either. Besides, maybe she didn't need all that stuff.

She was truly special now, unique, maybe this was all she needed to make it in this world. She wanted to be an actress, so why not go for it. There was literally nothing to hold her back now, and you didn't need a high school diploma to be an actress, plus with her abilities she could market that she did her own stunts.

A confident smile forms on Mary Jane's face. Yes, this was it, her moment. How many other actors and actresses had started from nothing and worked their way up to the top, it was practically the cliché Hollywood story, and soon it would be hers. She didn't need Flash, she didn't need her stupid parents, and she didn't need school. The world was hers for the taking, all she needed to do was reach out and grab it, all she needed…

Mary Jane catches her reflection in a window and frowns, she was covered in rust and dirt and her clothes were a mess. All she needed was a change of clothing. And so with a determined nod, Mary Jane Watson decided to go home for the last time. She would pack up her belongings and that would be it, she would cut all ties to her former life and then she would begin anew. A phoenix rising from the ashes.

It doesn't take her long to get home, she was fairly close already and with her knew found abilities jumping from roof top to roof top to cut off the time was no big deal. She jumps from the top of the Parker home and lands on the wall next to her window, and not caring that it's locked or that her parents will have to replace it she forces it open.

She climbs inside and is both relieved and sad that she feels nothing in here. No sense of nostalgia or longing. She's relieved because it's going to make leaving so much easier, but she is sad because really, leaving home shouldn't be this easy. At least not for a fifteen year old girl.

She lets out a sigh and shrugs her shoulders before going deeper into the house, finding two large suitcases and she heads back to her room to begin her packing. Essentials only she decides, so basically clothes, makeup, toiletries, her pillow and blanket, her stuffed pig, Sir Bacon, the money from the money jar on top of the fridge, hey her parents owed her, don't judge, and finally her laptop. It's a rundown, old, and beat up thing, but it had Wi-Fi access and would be useful. Just as she finishes packing she hears the door to her room open and her father is standing there, holding a baseball bat with her mother hiding behind him.

His jaw is wired almost completely shut and she notices instantly the way his body tenses when he sees her.

"What are you doing here?" He manages to growl at her, but she can tell it's difficult and causing him some pain.

She slings her backpack over her shoulders and grabs the two suitcases. "Don't worry, this is the last you'll ever see of me." She says, glaring at him.

"Oh no you don't, Madeline call the cops. I want this little bitch to answer for what she did."

Her mother looks nervously between them, unsure, until her father raises a hand like he's going to strike her and she hurries off to do his bidding.

Mary Jane rolls her eyes, she needs to leave and now. She moves and stands right in front of him. "Move."

"No, I'm not going anywhere and neither are you." He snarls through, his closed mouth.

"Please, for once in your entire life, act like a father and do what's right for your child. Let me leave." Her eyes are glaciers as she stares at him.

He raises his hand, the one not holding the bat and he slaps her. Just like before she saw it coming, but this time she did nothing to stop it. She felt it, but it didn't hurt, it was nothing to her. She continues to glares at him.

"That was the last time you will ever touch me." She tells him, "Now move."

"You little cun-aaarrrgh!" He chokes out, he had raised his hand to hit her again, but Mary Jane had had enough and so faster than he had thought possible she had grabbed him by his throat and lifted him off the ground, the bat clattering to the floor as he grabs at her arms desperately, his legs kicking as he tries to make her let him go, choking and gasping for every drop of air he can get. The fear in his eyes palpable as she squeezes, and he wonders for the moment if she is going to kill him and he can see it in her eyes, she's wondering the same thing. But the moment passes and she drops him and he falls to the floor coughing and choking, trying to catch his breath.

"You deserve it, after everything you've put me through, all the names, the degradation, the beatings, everyday living my life in fear of you…. You would have deserved it and if I really was your daughter, if I had learned the lessons you taught me growing up, then I would have… but I'm not you and I never want to be you." Mary Jane grabs her suitcases and steps over him, his eyes wide and following her with fear.

"If I never see you again it will be too soon."

As she walks down the stairs she passes the kitchen her mother holding the phone, and she stares at Mary Jane as if she has never seen her own daughter before. The two women share a look and Mary Jane says, "You're just as bad as he is." And with those parting words she continues on, out the front door and out of her parent's lives for good.

**s**

**xXx-Scene Break-xXx**

**s**

Mary Jane takes a seat on a bus stop bench and lets out a sigh. "Great going M.J. but now what?"

She didn't regret leaving her parents, not even for a second, but her new found independence while a wonderful feeling, didn't exactly put a roof over her head. She needed to find a place to stay until she could get a job and find an apartment. But where could she go?

She looks up at the sky and is thankful that it's at least not raining. I mean it was bad enough that she was now a starving actress with no place to go, but she didn't think she could handle the cliché of it starting to rain at this point.

She looks around the abandoned street and wonders what time it is. Not that it would help her any, knowing if it was like 1:30 or 2:30 in the morning wouldn't make her any less homeless. Still, some reference of time would be nice. Well there was no use in moping she needed to think of a plan, and she needed to do it better than she just had.

Leaving her parent's house to become an actress was a great outline but it did absolutely nothing to help her out right then and there. It was a goal to reach, not the journey. She checks the money she had grabbed to see how much and is dismayed to find that even though there were quite a few bills they were all ones with the occasional five thrown in. All in all, as she counted her funds, she had 68 dollars.

Good enough to feed her for a few days but certainly not enough to get a hotel room, hell, it probably wasn't enough for even a rundown motel room. Mary Jane lets out a huff of frustration, being out on her own was proving to be a lot more difficult than she imagined. She may as well have stayed at her parents place and waited for the cops, a night in jail was a roof over her head and it's not like she wasn't tough enough to take care of herself now. But no, she refused to have a record. She was not going to be one of those Hollywood bad girls, she was aiming for a more America's Sweetheart thing in her career and a record would make that a lot harder to do.

A thought enters her mind. But then again… this was a dire situation and if it meant either sleeping on the street or in a warm bed, then surely there was nothing too wrong about slightly bending the rules. She could just break into a hotel room, it wouldn't be hard. She could sneak in, spend the night and then leave before anyone noticed. And to make sure that everything was fair and even, when she made it as a huge movie start then she could do like commercial's for them to pay them back for letting her unknowingly stay at their facilities. Yes that seemed fair, a couple of nights of free room, for millions of dollars gained by her future endorsements!

"I think that will work out just perfectly." She smiles, jumping to her feet and grabbing her stuff. She leaps up from the ground onto a nearby light post, and from there onto a roof. From there she runs across the roof tops, jumping and flipping through the air, smiling and laughing and reveling in her new found freedom and abilities, feeling like this was the start of her real adventure and that it would all be smooth sailing from here.

She finds a decent hotel, one that matches her criteria, and quickly finds a room on the top floor that is not in use. She's lucky enough that the windows are unlocked and it doesn't take her long to squeeze her bags into the room and then shimmy her way inside. Once there she flips on the lights and heads into the bathroom, to take a long and well deserved shower. After that, she'll go to bed, get a couple hours of sleep and then it's up and at 'em bright and early to go find her big break.

Yep, Mary Jane giggles, it was going to be smooth sailing from here on out.


	4. Chapter 4

**Alright here we go, chapter 4 of "The Spectacular Spider-Girl." Sorry about the wait on an update. I had this chapter written up for a while but was never quite happy with it. But I hope you will all enjoy it anyway.**

**s**

**Chapter 4**

**s**

It was not smooth sailing and the best that Mary Jane could say about her "big break" was that it wasn't porn. Although it may as well have been with how skimpy her costume was. It had been a month since she had run away from home to start her new life but things were not panning out the way that she had hoped.

That first week had been rough, nobody was interested in hiring a fifteen year old high school drop-out. She had thought to find an agent but without parental consent no one could take her on, and without an agent to find her auditions there wasn't anyone who was going to take her seriously at the few auditions she did find. It was also abundantly clear that while she had a passion for acting and some natural talent she was nowhere near as skilled as the other people who had shown up for those auditions. Tisch, Julliard, and other schools performance arts schools that her completion were all attending really knew there stuff and it reflected in the talent of her fellow auditioners. Ultimately she just wasn't up to competing with the professional training that most of these people had.

Still she refused to be disheartened. She continued to break into hotel rooms to spend the night, opting to stay in a room for only two days at the most. Not thinking she had stayed in that first room for almost four days before someone else had taken it. She had barely gotten out unnoticed, having to hide until the new occupant, a rather rotund and hairy business man had fallen asleep. She learned more about the male anatomy that night than she had ever wanted to, and the memory still brought a shiver down her spine.

The second week is when she finally got a lucky break, although she was playing it rather fast and loose with the word lucky. She saw a flyer looking for female models and so she had gone to the address, a rather dirty and rundown warehouse that had been converted into a fighting arena. The job was to basically be the arm candy for this local cage fighter. She would wear the skimpy outfit, hang off his meaty arm and pretend to be completely smitten by the brute. All the while providing a nice view for the audience who might get bored with a fight.

Marcus Fletcher, the promoter who had hired her had taken one look at her and had instantly wanted her. The only interview question she had to answer was whether or not she was eighteen. He knew the answer to the question but she knew that he wanted her to lie and she could really use the money and on a good night, if she helped to draw in a crowd, then she could make upwards of fifty all the way up to one hundred dollars. They worked three to five nights a week which meant she could potentially make five hundred dollars a week.

She needed the money, he needed her looks, so she lied through her teeth and said she was eighteen. She knew it was seedy, but she had been naïve enough to believe that all that would be expected of her would be for her to show up and look pretty. She had been rather shocked and dismayed that first night when one of the talents had grabbed her butt and then proceeded to try and have his way with her. Of course she hadn't been nearly as dismayed as he had been when she had grabbed one of his offending hands and started to crush it in her own.

She probably would have broken it and been fired if it wasn't for Vivian Taylor who had since then become her best friend and kind of mentor, really taking Mary Jane under her wing and teaching her the in's and the outs of underground fighting rings and how to survive them. Vivian was a pretty blond girl, twenty five years old, who had the look of someone who had a hard life but hid it well. And she spoke with a thick Texan accent.

_"That's enough there darling'," Vivian says softly to her, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder._

_ "He was going to- He just tried to-" she sputters furiously, her mind flashing back to that night back in the alley, but she does let go of him._

_ "I know darlin, but honestly that's just the way it works around here. You've said your no's an he'll respect that now, but you can't go hurtin tha talent just because they get a little grabby." She says all of this with a kind smile on her face._

_ Mary Jane however felt quite indignant. "That isn't right, he shouldn't be able to-"_

_ "Shhh, sh, sh, sh, shhhh. My my you are a young one. How old are you darlin?"_

_ Mary Jane glares at her defiantly. "Eighteen."_

_ Vivian shakes her head, and gives her the kindest, warmest smile that Mary Jane can ever remember receiving. "How old are you really?"_

_ Mary Jane looks down, embarrassed. "Fifteen." She says softly and meekly._

_ "I'd have thought so, now normally I'd say you need to get yourself out of here and go to school and get yourself an education. But I can see that this is kind of your only option right now, isn't it darlin?"_

_ Mary Jane can feel the tears well in her eyes but forces them back as she nods her head._

_ Vivian affectionately ruffles her hair. "Tell you what, I'll take care of this guy, smooth things over for you and then when we're all done here tonight, you and I can have a nice long chat."_

_ "I don't need a parent." Mary Jane grumbles, knowing that more than anything else, that's what she wished she had at the moment._

_ "I know, but everyone could use a friend, right?" Vivian responds, her kind eyes seeing right through Mary Jane's attempted tough act._

_ Mary Jane nods her head in agreement, "Sure… a friend sounds good."_

_ "Well, I'm sure you've got work to be doin, so go on, get ready, and I'll see you later."_

_ Mary Jane then watches as Vivian goes up to the guy whose hand she had just crushed, he had crawled away during her talk with Vivian and was now glaring at her. But in just a few seconds all his attention was on the blond and Mary Jane was all but forgotten._

Mary Jane was super grateful to Vivian for looking out for her and she smiles and waves to the woman as she enters the dressing room.

"Well don't you look just absolutely gorgeous, give us twirl now, c'mon." Vivian gushes, acting as if she were dressed in some beautiful dress and not these gaudy and skimpy rags.

Her "character" for the ring was called Arachnea and she was partnered with a guy who called himself Tyrant-tula. He was a large African American man, he easily weighed 300 pounds, smelled like onions, had a nasty temper and the only nice thing that Mary Jane could say about him is that he had no interest in her other than the fact that she drew a lot of attention from the crowd.

Her "outfit" was a crimson and navy blue one piece swim suit that had been altered. The first alteration was the ridiculous amount of cleavage that it now showed, it barely covered her nipples and it always made her blush to wear it. Another hole that had been added to the suit, this one in the shape of a diamond, was in the front and showed off her belly button and went much lower than was decent, barely hiding the goods with how low it dipped. Her back was completely bared and the part covering her butt may as well have not been there for how skimpy it was and with the way that it rode up. She also wore long spider web themed gloves and shear fishnet stockings and high heels. Her hair was pulled up and into a very high pony tail, her lipstick was black, and she wore large spider-web shaped earrings. And to top it all off, she wore a bedazzled masquerade mask, that barely protected her identity.

All in all she was not happy with things but she desperately needed the money and she had to constantly remind herself that at least she wasn't in porn or a prostitute. Which she felt was ironic because she certainly felt like a whore, but that was one of the things she absolutely loved about Vivian, Vivian made it less awful. It was always hard to go out there and be stared at like she was just a slab of meat, but Vivian always was able to make her feel better with a few kind words and some encouragement. Reminding her that she was doing what she needed to do to survive and that there was no shame in that, that she was still a good person, and that one day this would all be just a crazy dream.

Mary Jane obliges her and twirls, blushing as she does so and Vivian whistle appreciatively. "Darlin, you are a show stealer."

"And you look just as beautiful as ever." Mary Jane returns, and they both kiss each other on each cheek.

"Oh this ol' thing." Vivian smiles, "This ain't nothin' compared to you darlin."

Vivian's "costume" left even less to the imagination than Mary Jane's which the redhead hadn't thought was even possible until she had seen it.

"Now, are we still on for lunch tomorrow?" Vivian asks.

"You bet, I've been looking forward to it all week."

"Fantastic!"

Their conversation is interrupted by a voice that Mary Jane has truly come to hate, he calls himself Spike, in and out of the ring, and he had been the guy who's hand she had all but crushed her first day. "Hey sexy, how's it hanging?"

He drapes a hand over Vivian's shoulder and doesn't even try to be discreet as he cops a feel, squeezing her breast. He had never tried to touch her again after that first night, and even the next couple of days he had gone out of his way to avoid her. But as time passed and Mary Jane had done nothing else to him he had regained a lot of his boldness around her, especially where Vivian was concerned. Mary Jane wanted to kill him but Vivian just giggles and pushes him playfully, "Oh, you."

Mary Jane could take care of herself, but Vivian had to play the game. It was easily within Mary Jane's power to beat this trash into a pulp, but Vivian had told her what had felt like countless times not to cause trouble and that they couldn't afford to lose this job. That if she wanted to eat then she would have to put up with it for a bit. She hated it and almost didn't care, Vivian stayed her hand.

"So, how 'bout it, you ditch the bitch and come back to my dressing room?" Spike asks.

"Why don't you go back to your dressing room by yourself and ice that hand, then you'll finally be able to go back to using it for the one thing it's good for." Mary Jane sneers.

"How about I take you outside and finally put you into your place!" He snarls right back.

"Oh I would truly love to see you try." Mary Jane takes a menacing step forward.

"Now hold your horses there," Vivian interrupts before it can go any further, she turns to Mary Jane. "I've told you to play nice." She scolds her friend in a playful tone, but there is a very serious warning in her eyes.

She then turns to Spike, "And you, my Herculean Hunk, what are you gettin' all excited about a little kid for, especially when y'all got me right here?" She flirts with him.

Spike gets a stupid grin on his face. "So, how 'bout it then?"

"Sure, I got tha time." She wraps an arm around Spike's waist and starts to lead him away.

"Vivian!" Mary Jane calls out in distress and she feels like her heart is in her throat when the older woman turns and looks at her, she is smiling so sadly at Mary Jane that she wants to cry.

"Hush now darlin, the adults are goin' to have some fun and y'all have some work to do anyways."

Vivian continues to lead Spike away but not before he's able to look back at her and smirk. This was wrong, this was all so wrong and on so many levels. Vivian didn't deserve this and she wouldn't be in this situation if Mary Jane could just keep her mouth shut. But this wasn't right, the way they were treated, and she hated herself, and maybe if she were braver she could do something about it and save her friend. But a stage hand grabs her attention and she knows that she has to go out in a few minutes. So with a defeated sigh she turns to go and get to work.

She meets Tyrant-tula, a.k.a Darren Brosk, at the entrance way. "You were almost late." His deep baritone voice, reverberates.

Mary Jane ignores him.

"Didn't you hear me, I said you were almost late." He growls at her.

Mary Jane glares at him "But I wasn't, but no, go ahead and keep bringing it up, keep pissing me off and see what happens."

Tyrant-tula wisely kept his mouth shut, whether he just didn't care or maybe he had some kind of subconscious self-preservation thing going on that kept his mouth shut for him, Mary Jane didn't know and didn't care. And when the signal is given, she forces a seductive smile onto her face, grabs onto Tyrant-tula's arm like it's the sexiest thing in the world and forces herself not cry as the hisses and jeers of the crowd reach her ear as she walks out into the arena.

She pulls away from Tyrant-tula the moment they are back behind the curtain. He had won his fight, she had caused a distraction for him, and so she would be getting a little extra tonight, ending up at about two hundred when it was all said and done. But she honestly didn't care. The job it was eating at her soul and after only three weeks she didn't know how much longer she could stand it.

She heads back to the dressing room eager to get out of this trash she's in and into some real clothes. She had never been one to be ashamed of her body, the human body was wonderful and marvelous creations, but right now she felt disgusted and ashamed of her own. She was a slab of meat and all the world around her was shouting and screaming at her that all she was good for was sex, and she was starting to wonder when she would start to believe them.

She tears her costume off, not caring that she's going to have to repair it herself or pay the seamstress to do it, and quickly dons the biggest most unflattering hoody she can find as well as pair of dark grey sweat pants. She pulls the hood over her head, finds a secluded corner and allows herself to wallow. Not cry, she could never cry here, it would be suicide to show weakness here, but she could certainly brood with the best of them.

She's brought out of her broodings a half an hour later when Vivian comes limping in. She doesn't see Mary Jane at first, but Mary Jane is able to see clearly. She can see the tears fall from her friend's eyes, the slight shiver in her form, and the look of absolute despair.

Mary Jane moves from her spot, startling Vivian who jumps, surprised by the presence of the younger girl. Vivian quickly schools her features into the one that Mary Jane is so used to seeing. The look of a woman who is completely content and happy with her life, full of confidence and bravado. And Mary Jane is ashamed to realize how easily she had fallen for the ruse. That her friend was in just as much pain as she was, if not more so, and yet she had still taken it upon herself to protect her.

Mary Jane doesn't say a word as she goes up and hugs her friend, who is startled for a moment, before she returns the hug just as fiercely. And that was it, they didn't care who was watching, they both broke down and cried. They knew life wasn't fair but this was ridiculous.

Vivian recovers first and wipes her eyes before smiling. "Look at us, a couple of wet blankets."

"Yeah." Mary Jane laughs, wiping her own eyes. "Pretty pathetic huh?"

"Just a little, but you know what, I feel a lot better now. How about you?"

"Just a bit."

Vivian leans in and kisses her forehead and Mary Jane blushes because even though Vivian had kissed her before, both on the both the cheek and the forehead, this time felt so much more intimate. It was weird and strange, and she didn't know what it all meant, she only knew that she liked it. This change between them. Vivian pulls back after a second and Mary Jane can see that she felt it too and the still smiling the older woman asks, "I don't know about you, but I'm starvin, how about it darlin, you want to go get some dinner? My treat?"

Mary Jane nods her head, "How about it's my treat instead? My team won its match tonight so I've got a little extra money coming in tonight."

"Well I won't say no to a free meal."

"Well then, let get you dressed and we'll head out."

"Sounds good. So what are ya hungry for?"

Mary Jane takes a second to consider her options, "I don't know about you but nothing sounds better than pancakes right now, topped with a giant blob of butter with maple syrup just drenching the whole thing."

"Now that does sound good."

Mary Jane waits patiently for Vivian to get dressed and then linking arms they go to get their money and then head out into the night.

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**xXx-Scene Break-xXx**

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She had been up all night thinking about what she wanted to say today. They had seen each other just last night, but it still felt like an eternity to Mary Jane. Something had changed between them and Mary Jane wasn't sure that she cared, the only thing she did know was that enough was enough. No more. She was going to get out of this life she had found herself in and she was going to get Vivian out too. Vivian who was the most important person in her life, she would get out of this and she would make sure Vivian did too.

Mary Jane was sitting at the little café that they had both wanted to try and was waiting for Vivian to show. She spots her from a distance and stands and waves to her, delighted when she waves back. Vivian is wearing short blue jean shorts, and a plaid button up shirt, with the sleeves rolled up and the midriff tied off exposing her toned stomach. Her hair was tied into a loose pony tail and she was wearing sunglasses and her cowboy hat, a brilliant smile on her face. All in all she looked every bit the Texas lady that she was.

Mary Jane's stomach fluttered in excitement as Vivian drew closer to her and rather than usual air kisses they exchanged when they met Vivian hugged her closely, briefly resting a hand on her lower back in a way that felt both incredibly nice and a little weird, before pulling away.

"Sorry I'm late darlin, just got caught up at home."

Mary Jane blushes and shakes her head. "No worries, I was early anyway. So are you ready to order?"

"Sure am."

Lunch was amazing, the food was subpar, but the time spent with Vivian was absolutely perfect. Vivian had always made her feel good before, but today it was if she were the only person in the world, like she were truly special, that she mattered to the other girl. No one had ever made her feel this way, not even Flash, whom she had been in love with. But being with Vivian even dulled that ache, in fact it didn't bother her at all. Not when she was with Vivian. And that made it so much easier to say what she had been thinking about all night.

"Vivian, can I talk to you about something important?"

"Of course darlin, you know I'm here for you."

Mary Jane smiles shyly at the other girl who reaches out and takes one of her hands in her own and squeezes it gently. "What's on your mind?"

"Listen I've thought really hard about this, and I was up all night and it's not just last night, I've been thinking about this for a while now, but after last night I finally have the courage to do this and I want you to do it with me too, because you are the most important person in the world to me and I honestly don't know what I would do without you." Mary Jane knows she's babbling a bit, and this had been so much more organized in her head, but the genuine smile on Vivian's face tells her that she's doing just fine.

"You're the most important person in my world too darlin, now what are you trying to say?"

"I think we should quit. I… I hate it there, the way they treat us and especially the way they treat you. I've… we, I can't stand the thought of going through that one more night, and seeing you after last night I know you feel the same way about that place too. And the thought of going out there even one more time and letting those people ogle me like they do and especially the thought them doing it to you… I hate it. And I hate… it makes me sick to my stomach to think of goons like Spike ever touching you again. Please, no more, let's just quit." Mary Jane has tears in her eyes as she stares imploringly at the woman in front of her.

Vivian tilts her head, she doesn't seem opposed to the idea but she's certainly not as passionate about it as Mary Jane had hoped. "And what would we do instead darlin. Neither of us even have our G.E.D, where else could we go?"

Mary Jane shakes her head, "Does it matter, we're both intelligent, strong, confident women. We could easily find something else, even if it's just flipping burgers, and it would only be for a while, just until we found something else and… please… please do this with me" The tears finally falling from the red heads eyes.

"Oh darlin, don't cry." Vivian says wiping the tears away. "You know, I think as long as you and I stick together, then I think we can do anything. If quitting means that much to you and if you're that passionate about it then I don't think I can say no. Lord knows I don't have any attachments there and I think you and I have both put up with that place long enough."

Mary Jane beams at her, "You mean it! Really!?"

Vivian laughs, "Yes, I think it's high time I got my rear into gear and found something better for myself…" Vivian trails off suddenly looking very shy. "You… you'll be with me every step of the way won't you?"

Mary Jane nods her head emphatically. "Yes. So… we're really going to do this then?"

"Sounds like it, Mary Jane Watson and Vivian Taylor, starting our new lives together!"

Mary Jane felt like something more should happen here, like some kind of act to commemorate what just happened. She starts to lean in and she sees that Vivian is doing the same. If this were Flash or a boyfriend of some such she would kiss them at this point… but she couldn't do that with Vivian… could she?

However before she can contemplate this any further the waiter comes over and brings them their check interrupting the moment but not completely ruining it. Mary Jane leaves a couple of tens on the table, confident that will cover everything as well as the tip. Vivian stands up and takes her hand and Mary Jane accepts it, and the two of them take off.

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**xXx-Scene Break-xXx**

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Mary Jane was sitting in Vivian's living room biting her lip nervously as she waited for the other woman to return home. After lunch they had wandered around the city window shopping and talking about different dreams that they both had. Each one more grand and wonderful than the last. Finally as the sun began to set, Vivian had asked if she wanted to come over to her place.

The butterflies in her stomach had whipped up tornados when she had accepted the invitation. She wasn't sure what was supposed to happen but she wasn't disappointed with what did. They ended up cuddling on Vivian's beat up couch and watching an old black and white movie in Spanish because that was the only channel she got. They laughed and giggled as they made up words and dialogue for each scene.

Finally, when 9:30 had rolled around Vivian had brought up that Marcus would be in right now setting up for tomorrow night and that now would be a good time for her to let him know they quit.

Mary Jane had agreed, and had gotten up to get ready to go. However Vivian had stopped her saying.

_"Darlin, I know that this was your idea to quit and all… but please let me be the one to do it."_

_ "What, how come?"_

_ "You are so much braver than I am, if you hadn't inspired me I would never have the courage to leave there no matter how much I hated it or it ate away at me… but you… you're there barely three weeks and you have the courage to do what I couldn't do on my own, you can walk away."_

_ "You're brave too, I couldn't have survived even the short time I was there if you hadn't taken me in like you did and you survived there so much longer than me. Plus, even though it's a good thing, it's because of me that you'll be out of a job and that your life will be all flipped around. I should at least go with you!"_

_ Vivian leans in and for just a fraction of a second presses her lips to Mary Jane's. "No sweetheart, I don't ever want you down there and around those people again. Let me do this, let me take care of this, please, for the first time in a very long time… let me be brave."_

_ Mary Jane touches her lips, they feel like they're on fire and her mind is a whirlwind. Vivian kissed her, she had just kissed another girl and she had liked it. So with her head spinning and her mind as focused as it was capable of being she just nods her head._

_ "You and I will have a lot more to talk about when I get back, okay? It won't take me long, an hour at most, alright?"_

_ "Okay." Mary Jane's voice is barely above a whisper._

_ Vivian smiles beautifully at her and Mary Jane blushes a deep shade of red, her tornado butterfly's turning into dragons. "I'll be back soon."_

However, looking at the clock and seeing that it's already 11:30, Mary Jane realized that it was getting late and that Vivian should have been back a long time ago. She feels a knot in her stomach, something was wrong.

She opens the window and leaps out into the night, her feet carrying her quickly and fluidly from roof top to roof top through the city. Her pace never faltering as she heads to the arena and to where Vivian was supposed to be and should have left by now.

Finally she lands on the rooftop of a nearby warehouse and she feels her heart plummet into her stomach because as she looks down at the warehouse where the arena is set up she can see that the area is surrounded by cop cars and an ambulance, and from her vantage point she can see a zipped up body bag being loaded in.


	5. Chapter 5

**Standard Disclaimer, I don't own Spider-Man or any of it's characters. Just wanted to give a quick author's note and apologize for any grammar and spelling errors. I read and reread each chapter that I post several times checking for mistakes, but sometimes they just slip by.**

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**Chapter 5**

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Mary Jane made her way down as quickly as she could, ducking under the police tape and ignoring the officers who gave chase. She didn't care about them, she didn't care about anything, all she cared about was getting to that body and proving that it wasn't Vivian. She refused to believe that she was dead, she just needed to look, to see with her own eyes.

Her friend was okay, Vivian was okay. She would look and it would be sad but it wouldn't be Vivian and then she would meet up with her friend who would tease her that she had worried for nothing and scold her because she shouldn't have come down here and then they would go home and talk and… Mary Jane wasn't sure what would happen then but she knew that whatever it was, as long as Vivian was there everything would be okay.

She reaches the body bag, gasping for breath when she feels an arm grab her, the warning in her head had gone off, but she ignored it. She had more important things to worry about. As she is spun around she sees that it was an officer who had grabbed her, his partner standing right behind him. Both of them glaring at the girl who had slipped past them.

"What do you think you're doing, this is area is restricted?" The one who had grabbed her growls.

"Please, my friend… she… she was supposed to be here, please I just need to see… who's in there."

The other cop rolls his eyes and the one that still hasn't let go of her says in a nonchalant voice. "Just some dead hooker."

Mary Jane's eyes flash but before she can do the officer a serious injury a calm masculine voice speaks up. "What's going on here?"

Mary Jane turns to look at the new comer. He's older, probably in his mid-forties, with light brown hair that is combed back. He has on thick black glasses and he looks like a no nonsense kind of guy, except his eyes. He has very warm, bright blue eyes, the kind you wouldn't expect to see on someone as severe looking as him. He's wearing a suit and tie and over it is a large brown trench coat.

"Sorry detective, this girl broke through the line. We'll get her out of here."

He waves them off, "I'll handle this, you two get back to your posts."

As the two officers walk away, the man gives her a kind smile and leads her away from the body bag and over to a police cruiser. "Now, I'm Detective George Stacy, can you tell me your name please?"

Mary Jane ignores his question and looks at him imploringly, "Please I'm looking for my friend, please tell me is she here, that's not… it's not her in there is it!?"

"What's your friend's name?" He asks gently.

"Vivian, Vivian Taylor, please, just… just let me look, I know it's not her, it can't be her, but she was supposed to be home already and… please, I just need to make sure!" Mary Jane pleads desperately.

"What does your friend look like?"

"She… she's tall, like 6'2", beautiful blonde hair, blue eyes, she… she… no…" Mary Jane shakes her head in denial at the look of regret that forms on Detective Stacy's face.

"No, no, no, no, nononononono!" Mary Jane starts to cry in earnest.

"I am so sorry-"

However Mary Jane doesn't hear him, she pushes past him and runs over to the body bag, ripping it open, and laying there, a large bullet hole in her forehead, is Vivian. Mary Jane grasps at the body and loses it, wailing in grief, her heart shattering over the corpse of her friend.

She feels a set of arms wrap around her and gently pull her away, she turns into someone, who she in the back of her mind recognizes as Detective Stacy, and clings to him for all that she is worth. Her friend, her… she didn't know what, but friend was too inadequate a word, but she was dead. Vivian was dead and her world was crumbling around her.

**s**

**xXx-Scene Break-xXx**

**s**

George Stacy leads the crying girl away, motioning for them to take the body away. His heart broke for the young girl. A paramedic on scene hands him a blanket and he wraps it around the red head. She is sobbing and shivering and so he leads her off to the side and helps her sit down, running a fatherly hand in circles on her back, trying to sooth her.

A couple of his officers start to come up to him, probably to report but he waves them away. They were only going to tell him what he already knew, that they had found nothing. They were so close, he was so close, this area was a hotbed for drug activity, and after months and months of fighting an uphill battle with his superiors to get them to agree to make a serious effort in this area he had finally gotten enough evidence to bring this place down. He had thought it would be his lucky break, he was certain that this organization had connections to the mysterious crime lord known only as the King Pin, and that this bust was going to be the first step in taking him down. He had no solid proof, but if he could have just gotten here in time he was certain that he would have been able to find a connection. But when he had arrived on scene with his men, ready to do the bust they had found the place abandoned and cleared out, the only thing there was the recently dead body of a young woman. A woman he now knew to be Vivian Taylor.

His focus is brought back to the young girl when she makes a retching sound and begins to throw up all over the ground. He ignores the vomit at his feet and continues to rub circles on her back, his fatherly instincts kicking into over drive. When she finally stops she's still shivering, her breathing is heavy and ragged, only interrupted by the occasional hiccup.

He kneels down in front of her and looks her in the eyes. She's pretty he notes, quite possibly the prettiest person he had ever seen in real life, with pale skin and vibrant green eyes and long and lustrous red hair that fell to her mid back. And she was young, so very young, fifteen or sixteen if he had to guess at her age. But what struck him most about the way she looked was that he couldn't recall ever seeing someone who looked so lost and defeated before. "I am so sorry for your loss." He says as gently as he can.

Her face scrunches up like she's going to start crying again she manages not to, but she doesn't speak only nodding her head in acceptance of his condolences.

"Now, does your friend, Vivian?" He questions, wanting to confirm.

She nods her head.

"Right Vivian, does she have any next of kin that need to be notified? Any family we can call?"

"No," her voice cracks, "It was just me and her?"

"Okay."

"What happened here? Why, how did this happen?" She sounds so meek right now that he doesn't have it in him to not answer. It went against every protocol and rule to discuss an ongoing investigation but this girl and the victim had obviously been close and she deserved some kind of answer.

"We were here to do a drug bust, we had evidence that the owner of this warehouse, Marcus Fletcher was moving a large shipment of cocaine tonight-"

The girl looks up startled, "What? No!? Marcus… he's, he's the scum of the earth sure but… he runs a fight club, he's… he's not drug dealer. Vivian and I worked here, we… we would have known."

He frowns at that. "You two worked here? What can you tell me, what did you do here?"

"We were basically…" the girl looks down and he can see the shame written all over her face.

"Hey now, it's okay." He tries to reassure her, "Whatever it was, it's okay. You're not in any trouble."

"We were going to quit…" She whispers, "We were going to quit and start our new lives together." The red haired girl starts to cry again, and he would like nothing more than to make it all better, but he really needs whatever information she can give him, and in all reality the best thing he could do for her is to catch the people that had done this.

"I am truly sorry for your loss but please, what can you tell me, what did you do here? Names, people, anything at all? You'd be surprised what can help, please."

She forces herself to calm down with some visible effort on her part before she answers him. "We… we were models for… for the talent… we… we would give the crowd something to look at in-between fights and stuff… sometimes we would fight but mostly… we…"

"Okay, that's okay, anything else? We know Marcus Fletcher but can you give me anything else?"

He pulls out a notepad and quickly writes down the names and descriptions of people that she had worked with, her voice numb and emotionless, like she's speaking on autopilot. Most of the names were nicknames and aliases, but with the descriptions given he was positive he would be able to make some ID's, especially if he could get the girl to pick people out of a line up.

"Thank you, thank you so much for all of your help. I know you've just lost your friend, but you are being so brave right now, and I promise you that this will help. That the information you've just given me will help me bring the people who did this to your friend to justice."

She nods her head, but he's not sure she actually heard him. "Now one last thing, can you tell me your name and how old you are? Where can I best contact you at?"

"Mary Jane… my name is Mary Jane…" She mumbles, "I'm eighteen." After that she doesn't offer anything else up.

"Alright, I have to go real quick, but I'll be right back okay. Don't move, alright, I'll be right back." She nods her head again, but he doesn't think she paid him any attention. The name sounded so familiar and so he wanted to run a check on it. Mary Jane, it was so familiar, on the tip of his tongue on where he had heard that name before.

His daughter Gwen was 16 and if this girl was older than that he would eat his shoe. He goes over to a squad car and puts her name into the computer and scrolls through a couple of names before he sees it. Mary Jane Watson, he knew he recognized that name, it was from a missing persons report. He pulls up the file and it pops up with her picture next to it.

Mary Jane Watson, age 15, ran away from home. Missing for one month now, student at Midtown High, he raises a brow, Gwen went there too. Her parents were Philip and Madeline Watson, both alive and still married and they both have files on them for domestic disturbances. The Missing Persons report was filed by a Eugene Thompson, not her parents. No current leads on her whereabouts.

He looks up from the screen and scowls. He sees this far too often, abusive family, young kid runs away and falls in with a bad crowd. He would talk to her about her situation and see if he could get her to agree to meet with a social worker, she was young with her whole future ahead of her, and she just needed a little help to get her life back on track. He couldn't stand the thought of her wasting her potential out here on the streets or worse ending up like her friend. She was Gwen's age for god's sake, she shouldn't be out on the street like this and especially not in a rough area like this one. He didn't even want to think about what she might have had to do to survive or what she may have experienced.

He calls over an officer and gets a quick update on the investigation. CSI were doing their thing but so far there was nothing to indicate that anything had been there was showing up. He lets out a frustrated sigh at that bit of news. This, the complete lack of evidence, more than anything else confirmed for him that the King Pin was somehow involved. Anytime they were about to close in on one of the man's… or woman's, he conceded as he honestly didn't know for sure, operations they would disappear without a trace.

He walks back over to the girl and kneels down in front of her again. "Things are wrapping up here, but I was wondering if you would be willing to come down to the precinct with me and talk a little bit more?"

**s**

**xXx-Scene Break-xXx**

**s**

She was numb, she felt nothing and she was doing everything in her power to keep it that way. Vivian was dead, Marcus was a drug dealer, and she no longer knew what her future held. She looks around staring at the scene impassively, what did she do now? Did… Vivian didn't have any family, at least none that she knew about, did Mary Jane handle the funeral arrangements? It seemed too awful that she would be the only person to mourn her passing but Mary Jane didn't know if there was anyone else.

She didn't want to say goodbye. They were going to start brand new lives together, they were going to follow their dreams. They were going to be there for each other and now… now she was gone and Mary Jane was all alone again. She starts to cry again, hugging the blanket closer to herself. She felt cold and sick and like she couldn't breathe. She needed… she didn't know what she needed.

She looks up when she hears someone approach her again and sees that it's Detective Stacy. He kneels down in front of her again. "Things are wrapping up here, but I was wondering if you would be willing to come down to the precinct with me and talk a little bit more?"

Mary Jane can see the sympathy on his face and hear it in his voice. It was different now, before he had been sad for her, but now there was an underlying current of pity there that hadn't been there before. It takes her a second but she realizes it's exactly how an adult talks to a child, she hadn't heard it in a while, not since she had run away, anyways. But here it was, an adult speaking to a child who they felt was in over their head. And if her friend hadn't just been murdered, she may have even accepted it, allowed herself to be a child again. But she couldn't go back.

His eyes widen for just a fraction of a second, years of experience and training kicking in. He knows exactly when she does that she is going to run. Unfortunately for him he has never had to chase down anyone like her before.

She jumps from her seat and ducks under his arm and around him as he reaches for her, taking off away from this place and into the night. She hears him call for her to stop and when she doesn't he calls for someone to catch her. Two police officer's block her path, she duck under the first one and then leapfrogs over the second one. A third officer almost catches her by the arm but a warning in her head goes off and so she reacts, grabbing the offending hand and flinging the cop over her shoulder and sending him flying through the air.

As she crosses the police line and back out into the night her warnings flair worse than anything she had ever felt before. She continues running and when the warning in her head screams at her like it never had before she leaps as high into the air as she can twisting herself as she does. Three loud bangs echo into the night air and she feels something fly past her, just barely missing. The ricochet sound lets her know that someone had just shot at her. She gives one final leap, kicks off of a warehouse wall and onto an adjacent building's roof, moving out of sight. She can hear someone shouting above the noise but she pays it no mind. She's free, for all the good it does her.

**s**

**xXx-Scene Break-xXx**

**s**

George Stacy was furious, no scratch that, he was just barely this side of homicidal. "You idiot! What the hell do you think you're doing!?" He snarls, as he pushes the arm down of the officer who had opened fire.

The officer gives him a blank look. "Perusing the suspect, then she assaulted an officer so I opened… fire?"

"She wasn't a suspect, she was a witness, you moron. She was fifteen year old girl and you shot at her!"

The officer looks a little angry and says in a forced calm. "You saw the way she flung Eriks, witness or not she was running from a crime scene and she attacked one of our own."

George looks over and sees a couple of officers helping the other man up. It was strange he would give them that, but they had over reacted in his opinion. He rubs his eyes, trying to prevent the oncoming migraine. This city, he truly hated it sometimes. Even the police, the people who were to protect and serve, some of them were little more than thugs at times.

"Just… wrap up this crime scene. Put out an APB for a Mary Jane Watson, and make damn sure that they know that she is to be brought in unharmed. She is a witness and she needs our help, she is not a criminal, she is not a suspect. You got that?"

"Yes sir."

It takes him another hour to wrap things up at the crime scene and then another half hour to get the paperwork started, before he finally decides to finish it up later. When he gets home he takes a moment to look in on his family, stopping at his two sons' room first, after watching them for a few minutes he goes and checks on Gwen.

She is sleeping soundly, so he quietly goes over and pulls the blanket a little higher over her and kisses her forehead and she lets out a little sigh. She was home and she was safe. As he exits her room he shuts the door quietly and then turns to look at his wife Helen who had gotten up to greet him.

"Hey, you're home late?" She says softly, going up to him and wrapping her arms around him.

"Yeah…"

"Rough night?"

"Just a bit."

"Well then let's get you into bed." She stands up on her toes and gives him a light kiss.

"Now that's the best thing I've heard all day."

As he's lying in bed with his wife, lightly running his hand up and down her shoulder as she snuggles closer to him, he just can't get that girl out of his mind. He had to find her, she was only fifteen years old. The poor girl was out on the streets, her friend was dead, and to top it all off the police had shot at her. He could still see it in his mind, her sobbing form, as she cried over her friend, the look in her eyes just before she ran away. He had seen bad things before, he had seen other kids in positions like hers before, but for some reason she had struck a nerve.

"You're thinking too loud." His Helen says with a yawn.

He sighs, "Sorry, just a rough night."

"Do you want to talk about it?" She asks as she sits up and looks at him, she is smiling that beautiful kind smile of hers that he had fallen in love with the first time he had seen it.

He takes a moment to gather his thoughts before sitting up himself, clicking on the lamp by his side of the bed. It takes him about twenty minutes to tell her everything. From the months of build up getting ready for this bust, to arguing with his superiors that it wasn't a waste of time, to finding the place abandoned except for the body of a dead girl, and finally how the dead girl's friend, Mary Jane, had showed up as the only witness to Marcus's activities and that she turned out to be a classmate of Gwen's who had run away last month.

"And you're worried about this girl, Mary Jane." She states rather than asks.

"Yeah, I just… I keep picturing Gwen out there and it breaks my heart. That was rough part of town and-"

"And you're a father and a good man and you care about people."

"I want to find her, help her if I can."

"Then I know you will, and from what you've told me it sounds like she could use it. How about tomorrow you talk to Gwen, if they went to school together then maybe she can give you some insight on her."

He leans over and presses his lips to her. "See, I knew I married you for a reason. Beauty and brains."

"Yep, you sure did luck out," She teases him, "but you know what?"

"Hmm, what?"

"So did I."


	6. Chapter 6

** Standard Disclaimer, I don't own Spider-Man or any of its characters.**

**s**

**Chapter 6**

**s**

Mary Jane walked quietly through the warehouse that had once housed the fighting arena. It had been three days since Vivian's death and as that time had passed despair had given way to rage. She was going to find Marcus and whoever else had been here that night, she was going to find them and kill them. After that, well it didn't really matter to her what happened after that.

She knew the police had already combed through this area, but maybe they had missed something. All she needed was a clue, someplace to start. If she could just find one of them, one of the people that she worked with she would make them talk. Tyrant-tula, Spike, anyone would do. But after over an hour of searching there was still nothing.

Mary Jane shrieks out a frustrated scream as she falls to her knees and slams her fists to the floor, cracking the concrete with the force that she had hit it with. It wasn't fair, this wasn't supposed to happen. Vivian should still be here with her, they were supposed to have started their new lives together, but instead Vivian was dead, she was homeless and without a job, and she was no closer to finding out where the person who had killed her friend was.

She slowly gets to her feet glancing casually at her hands, there wasn't a single scratch on them. It still startled her at times how unnatural she had become, and yet as the weeks had passed she had actually started to get used to these abilities of hers. Strength, speed, reflexes, the ability to stick to walls and leap some thirty odd feet into the air, not to mention her precognitive abilities to recognize and avoid incoming danger, all of it was becoming less and less new and more and more, well, normal.

And yet with all of these abilities at her disposal she couldn't find Marcus or any of the others. It's not like she even knew where to look and if they knew that the police were coming and were moving drugs then of course they wouldn't be here. She had started here hoping that maybe they had left something behind or maybe the police had missed something. But it was rather ridiculous of her to think that she, a homeless high school dropout and runaway would find something that trained professionals, with years of experience and a bunch of technology at their disposal, couldn't.

She knew she had only started searching for them today, but she was already getting frustrated, which didn't bode well for her hunt. Patience would catch them but she had no time or energy for patience. Vivian had been patient, that was her deal, Mary Jane Watson was all about action and making things happen. But without a good solid lead she had no idea where to start. Honestly she was starting to regret not getting to know her other co-workers better, a thought she never in a billion years ever thought she would have. But she knew almost next to nothing about them, maybe if she had talked to people a little bit more then maybe she might know a favorite bar or restaurant or, knowing them, strip joint that they liked to frequent.

As it was, she had pretty much avoided everyone except for Vivian like the plague. They were scum, all of them, just genuinely awful people, of course she did her best to avoid them. They were drug dealing, murdering, soon to be dead, scum…

Mary Jane lets out and audible sigh, maybe she was going about this the wrong way. She was going about this as if they were just going to magically fall into her lap, that by just searching around trying to find them they would appear before her. If Marcus really was a criminal who was dealing in drugs then maybe she should start there? Find a dealer or a junky or something, even if they didn't work with Marcus or know him they still might give her a lead to someone who did. And with a determined look in her eyes Mary Jane left the warehouse.

**s**

**xXx-Scene Break-xXx**

**s**

This part of town at night was… hell on earth seemed fairly appropriate description. Homeless people gathered, huddled around burning trash cans, avoiding eye-contact with other people. Mentally ill people wandering haphazardly around to wherever their inner demons lead them, muttering to themselves, and sometimes screaming. Droves of gang-bangers, traveling in packs, harassing whatever poor soul was unfortunate enough to have caught their attention. Hookers worked their corners, getting in and out of the cars of their John's as their pimps looked on.

And finally, there were the drug dealers and their clients, making exchanges. Honestly it was business as usual for this area, the police and other more, so called, respectable members of society having pretty much given up on this area. It worked perfectly for Mary Jane as she stood on the roof top of an abandoned construction site, overlooking the area. This is where the cities rejects were, no one would care if she stirred up a little trouble tonight.

She had stopped by a thrift shop earlier and had grabbed a couple of things to make this a bit easier for herself. She had on an oversized beat up jacket as well as a pair of baggy jeans held up by a frayed belt. She had on gloves as well as a beat up red scarf that she wrapped around her head to hide most of her face and her long red hair was tucked safely inside of a camouflage beanie. Only her piercing green eyes showed. All in all, other than being a bit cleaner than everyone else, she didn't look too out of place.

She didn't want anyone to recognize her, she didn't want word getting back to Marcus or the others that she was looking for them and she also didn't want her description getting back to the police. She didn't have a particularly high opinion of them right now. They hadn't cared that her friend had been murdered and they had shot at her, in her opinion they were barely better than those she was trying to find. She knew she wasn't being fair, but she was so angry and hurt right now that she didn't care. And… to be fair because she just couldn't help it, that one Detective, Stacy? He seemed a fairly decent person, but considering she was planning a murder, she couldn't exactly use his help right now anyway.

She jumps and flips down from the top of the partially constructed building and onto the ground in a secluded and shadowy area and then taking a calming breath steps out into the night. As she walks down the streets and alleys towards her quarry, she does her best to avoid making eye contact or drawing any kind of attention to herself. She looked fairly androgynous right now, so she wasn't worried about drawing _that_ kind of attention. But she was also fairly slight looking in all of this bulky clothing and thus could be seen as an easy target.

She wasn't afraid though, anyone stupid enough to get in her way right now deserved what they got but she didn't feel like having to deal with any kind of trouble right now, or at least trouble not related to locating Marcus Fletcher. However, as it seemed to be the case lately, the universe decided to ignore her wishes and send her barreling straight into it.

She had stepped to the side of the side walk and up against a brown brick building to let a couple of gangbangers pass her by, and for the most part they had seemed content to ignore her. As far as they knew she was just some boring homeless guy, who wasn't looking for trouble. Unfortunately for her she had stepped from her place too soon and accidentally bumped the shoulder of the last one.

"Hey! Watch were you're going you little punk ass bitch!"

"Sorry." She mumbles in a gravelly voice.

"Check out this fucker?" He laughs incredulously as he and his buddy's surround her. "Sorry? Fuck your sorry. This is a brand new jacket!"

Mary Jane rolls her eyes, "I don't have time for this." She mumbles to herself. "Send me a bill." She says as she pushes past them.

"The fuck, did I say you could go-AAAaaaarrrrgh!" The thug screams in agony as he sinks to his knees. He had attempted to grab Mary Jane's shoulder and so she had grabbed his arm and was now twisting it, bringing him to his knees, she could feel the bones cracking from the pressure of her grip.

She glares at the other four men who are watching her warily, unsure of what to do but definitely angry that someone was doing this to one of their own. "You really don't want to do this tonight, walk away." She says before releasing the guys arm.

"Fucking get him', man!" The guy half shouts half sobs.

The first guy charges at her and attempts to punch her in the face, she ducks down under the swing and sends the guy flying through the air with an uppercut. Another guy had attempted to come up behind her and grab her but before he could even reach her, her danger senses had gone off and she did a back kick into his solar plexus, hard. He slams into the brick wall of the building they were next to and slumps down, hacking and gasping for breath, clutching at his chest.

The third guy tries to tackle her but she summersaults over him and kicks the fourth guy across the face. His entire body spins and falls to the ground from the force of it, she's vaguely aware of the blood and teeth scattered across the sidewalk. She then grabs the third guy and lifts him over her head, he yelps in fright which turns in to pure terror as she tosses him into the side of a parked car, where he hits with enough force to dent the metal and crack the glass.

She then turns and looks at the guy whose arm she had crushed, he's looking at her with his eyes wide with terror, and he's stumbling backwards trying to put space between them as he backs away. "St- stay back!" He shouts as he fumbles with the pocket of his jacket with his good hand, his crushed arm being held protectively to himself. "I- I'm warning you!" He finally manages to pull out a little pistol. He points it at her but his arm is shaking violently and when she takes a step towards him he whimpers.

"I said stay back!" He screams firing a shot, Mary Jane's danger sense and reflexes kick in and just a slight step to the left is all that is needed to avoid the bullet.

"No, oh God!"

BLAM

BLAM

BLAM

BLAM

BLAM

click*

click*

click*

He had emptied his gun at her and not a single bullet had hit. She stalks over to him towering above him menacingly. She then lifts him up by the collar of his shirt and slams him against the wall, he's shaking horribly and his face is pale. "Oh God no, please no…" He whimpers.

Mary Jane sneers at him, not that he could see that, with her being so covered up. She hadn't planned on asking them anything, heading straight to where she knew a couple of dealers were located, but since she had him, she decided not to waste the opportunity. "I'm looking for someone, a drug dealer, somebody who knows all of the players in the area. Where can I find someone like that?"

"Huh… you're a chick?" He asks sounding confused.

She punches a crater into the wall next to his head.

His already pale complexion goes ghostly white. "Right! Right! Not important!" He squeaks out as the sound of urine tinkling against the sidewalk fills her ears. "Um… there… there's a guy, um… Sharky… he, he owns a… a… um… oh god… a night club, two blocks down, it's um… it's um, it's called the "Eight Ball," you can't… you can't miss it… he knows everything that happens in this part of town. Dude… dudes connected." He shakes his head to the right to show her which way. "Please don't kill me…"

Mary Jane drops him, "Go home, re-think your life and don't ever let me see you again." And with that she heads in the direction that he sent her.

**s**

**xXx-Scene Break-xXx**

**s**

It didn't take Mary Jane long to find the club or get inside. Despite the entrances and exits to the building being guarded by some fairly burly bouncers, that didn't matter though as she was easily able to climb up the wall and to an unlocked window on the third floor. She decided against just going through them as there were more people here and that meant they might call the police. The cops may avoid this area but if someone is tearing through people at a night club they still tend to check that kind of thing out.

The room she was in was used as a records room of some sort, it was filled with file cabinets as well as a desk that was fairly organized. The room was lit with a dulled lightbulb that dangled from the ceiling as well as a small desk lamp. The music of the club on the lower levels was loud but somewhat muffled by the walls and floor.

Her goal was to find this Sharky guy and make him tell her where she could find Marcus. Unfortunately for her she had no idea where he was or even what he looked like. She decides to ruffle through some of the drawers on the desk and a few of the files, maybe she could find something in here that would give her a place to start.

As she's ruffling through the first drawer she hears key's jingling at the door. She quickly jumps up to the ceiling and waits there to see who's coming through.

"What are we doing up here again?" Voice one, a male, asks.

"Something triggered the silent alarm up here, he wants us to make sure that everything is safe in here." A second voice says, this one a woman.

The guy has slicked back black hair and is wearing a nice suit, and stands at about 6'2" with a solid build, the woman is wearing a black dress, that was cut just a little too low in the front and short at the skirt to be considered classy. Her blonde hair is done up in a tight bun and she has a very severe look on her face.

The woman heads straight over to a picture on the wall, while the man heads to the window and closes it. The woman then moves the picture aside to reveal a safe.

"The window was open, must have been the wind." The man says.

The woman opens the safe and Mary Jane can see that it is filled with stacks of cash as well as a gun, before the woman closes it. "Everything seems to be in order here, let's get back to Sharky and tell him it was nothing."

As the two of them are heading to the door Mary Jane drops down from the ceiling to her feet and slowly rises. "Not nothing." She says as the two of them turn around.

"Bruno!" the woman has time to shout, before Mary Jane has rushed forward and flung him into the wall, knocking him unconscious. She then turns and grabs the wrist of the woman who had tried to come up behind her with a Taser and she squeezes until she drops it.

"None of that, I'm here to see your boss, Sharky. Take me to him and you'll get out of this just fine." Mary Jane says in deep a gravelly voice.

"Do you have any idea who you're dealing with?" The woman asks incredulously.

"Nope, couldn't care less."

"You're way out of your league, people who mess with him tend to find themselves at the bottom of the Hudson, leave now while you still can."

Mary Jane sighs, "Look we can either do this the easy way or the hard way, the easy way is you just take me to him right now, the hard way…" Mary Jane pauses for dramatic effect and squeezes the arm a little tighter. "The hard way I start breaking bones until he hears you screaming and comes running. Either way, I'm seeing him tonight."

"Alright… alright…" The woman says as she looks into the cold green eyes of her assailant and for the first time ever is looking up into the eyes of someone who scared her more than her boss.

**s**

**xXx-Scene Break-xXx**

**s**

There's a thud outside the office door. And a well-dressed and built African American man looks up from his papers and nods to the door signaling his two body guards to go check it out. But just as they stand the door opens and in steps his secretary Rita.

"What happened out there, did you find out what was going on in- Who the fuck are you?" Taveon Shark, a.k.a. "Sharky" asks when someone steps out from behind Rita. They're dressed like a bum but his sharp eyes saw that they were too clean for that to be true. The clothes were new, or at least bought new within the last day or two. He had always had a sharp eye for detail and it had served him well as he had risen through the ranks of his gang until finally leading it. The door swings a little wider as the person steps into the room and he can see Sean lying on the ground unconscious, whoever this was, was tough because Sean was no pushover.

"Who I am doesn't matter." They say in a gravelly voice, but despite their best efforts to disguise their voice he could tell it was a girl, young too.

"I beg to differ," Sharky says as he stands up from his seat and holds a hand up in a halting motion to stop his two other bodyguards from doing anything, both of them having started to move towards the person. "You come into my place of business and beat up on my boys, I say that whoever you are does matter."

"I'm looking for Marcus Fletcher, I was told you would know where he is."

Sharky shrugs his shoulders, "Sorry, never heard of him." He says with board tone. Of course he knew who Marcus Fletcher was, but he wasn't about to give any information to someone that he didn't know.

"I hope, for your sake, that you're lying." The person says, walking towards him.

His two bodyguards move into action and it doesn't mean a thing, with in seconds both of them are lying on the floor, bleeding and moaning. He had made them his personal guards due to their loyalty as well as their strength and skill in a fight and they had just been taken out like they were nothing. Rita, his secretary is backed into the corner of the room watching, terrified, as all of this is happening.

"Now that, that's out of the way," They say turning their attention back to him. "Let's try this again. I'm looking for Marcus Fletcher, I was told you would know where to find him."

"All right, all right." Sharky says in a calming tone, raising his hands in surrender. "Let's say I do know where he's at, what do you want with him?"

"He killed a friend of mine, I'm going to return the favor."

"Now see, that's a problem, cause Marcus, he and I work for the same man. A very scary man, a man whose bad side I wouldn't want to get on for anything. If I give up one of our own, well bad things are going to come down on me and mine. You feel me?"

"Your boss isn't here right now, I am. I would be much, much more worried about what _I_ am _going_ to do to you than what your boss _might_ do to you. I promise you, of the two of us, I'm the one you should be scared of."

Sharky chuckles, "You don't know my boss- now hold up a minute, I didn't say I wouldn't tell you!" Sharky says stepping back as the person came towards him, an angry almost unhinged look in her eyes. "I just got to make sure that this doesn't blow back on me." He knew and even liked Marcus to a certain degree and they both worked for… him, but he wasn't about to risk his operation or his life for the guy and if Marcus were suddenly out of the picture, it might be a good opening for him to expand his influence. Right now he was just the head of a gang, but if he played his cards right he might actually be able to get in good with the King Pin by picking up the slack that Marcus's death would create.

"And I care about what happens to you because?" She says as she steps up to him, shoving his desk out of the way and sending it tumbling into the wall. It takes all of his will power to keep his face impassive. Because holy shit, this chick was like some of the freaks that the King Pin liked to keep on his personal pay roll. Way too scary for him and his to be getting involved with. If Marcus was stupid enough to piss off one of these freaks he deserved what he got.

"Hey, I want to help you, but I've got to look out for mine. The information is all yours I just have to make sure this doesn't come back on me, you hear? I'm on your side, but if the wrong people find out that I talked to someone on the outside that's it for me, I'm done." He tries to reason with her. "I can give you his location, he was almost busted a couple of nights ago and I know where he's hiding, but this can't get back to me."

"Fine, I won't mention your name to anyone, now where is he." The person says impatiently.

"I'm going to need a little more than that- gurk!" He croaks as he's lifted by his neck and held in place, choking as he tries to breathe. He grabs at her arm to try and get her to break her hold but it was like trying to break steel. Rita lets out a frightened shriek over in the corner.

"I don't think you really understand the position you're in right now, so please allow me to explain it. Three nights ago he killed my friend, the one singular person in this world that I cared about, now I'm going to find him and do the same thing to him. You are currently in the unfortunate position of being the only thing standing in my way, which is a very, _very_, dangerous place to be right now. You are going to give me the information that I want, the only question is how badly do I have to hurt you before it happens?"

"Al-ri-ght, Al-ri-ght," He chokes out before she releases him and he falls to the ground. "Alright, I'll tell you." He gasps, trying to catch his breath. He'd only met a couple of these meta-human freaks before, they were crazy all of them, he should have known better than to try and work with one. His best bet for survival was to give the freak what she wanted and then shore up his defenses.


End file.
